Pokémon: The Porcelain Princess
by Steve-O-Clock
Summary: A boy becomes a pokemon trainer again long after his prior experience as one. As he travels, he encounters and rescues a lost kirlia with a strange pink coloring who fled home after it was attacked. She joins him on his quest to become a greater trainer in hopes to reunite with her family. Will they fulfill their goals or will they find a greater purpose in life? TrainerXGardevoir
1. Prologue and Chapter 1 - Homecoming

**Yo, Steve-O here. This is my very first fanfic that I've made and posted so far.**

 **So I wrote this story that takes place three years after the main protagonist of Pokémon** **X and Y thwarted Lysandre's plot of world destruction and rebirth and Team Flare went down in flames. During this time, a certain individual goes through a life changing journey alongside his pokémon, one of which had become his closest friend and over time, his ideal love interest. The pokémon of which I speak of is his lovely pink gardevoir who goes by the name Sakura. Yeah, I know, it's another friggin gardevoir romance fanfic. Whatcha gonna do about it? For the record, I am aware that none of these events actually took place other than the events of Pokémon X & Y which were or will be described in the story. This is only my story, after all, so please do take this with a grain of salt.**

 **Oh... let's not forget about that disclaimer. Pok** **é** **mon is owned by the Pok** **émon** **Company, not myself. I only own my OCs.**

 **This story is dedicated to the humble connections people share with their pokémon and the way it had impacted the course of history since the franchise has existed, or something like that. Ah, who am I kidding? I just wrote this story so I could project my twisted imagination and some of my life experiences into other people's brains, so… if you don't absolutely hate that sort of thing then, by all means, enjoy my story.**

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In a region not known to many, there resided a forest of great size and great beauty. In that forest were trees that grew tall and lush as far as the eye could see. A river ran through it from one side to the other which led to a boundless lake. It was a quiet forest since it was a place of tranquility and sanctuary where mainly the soft sounds of wind and nature were the only things to be heard. The weather was consistent, seemingly never too hot nor too cold, and would only ever experience rain and an occasional strong breeze. The daytime brought sunlight that would shine through the leaves and bring a comfortable warmth along the ground and in the air. The night time brought light from the stars and the moon that would never undervalue the vibrant colors and beauty of the forest. The inhabitants of this forest were peaceful pokémon that lived harmoniously with one another, some of which never knew suffering. This forest was a haven where all living beings could come and let their worries and cares disappear.

The peace and purity of this forest were preserved flawlessly for ages… then disaster struck. One night, the forest faced an unexpected catastrophe as many people with their own pokémon came and laid siege. In this siege, there were explosions and destruction of various parts of the landscape and trees. The pokémon of the forest fought back at them in retaliation and the once peaceful forest had become a war zone. The battle was fierce and lasting and made the night time seem like it stood still, a sight that was truly unforgettable.

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 **Homecoming**

(Champhrier Town)

In the Kalos region, there was a young man named Damien. He was an average sized young man coming at 5' 10" with green eyes, olive skin, short black hair and typically wore a green jacket over a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. He was a bright individual, very dedicated to his high school classes and had the privilege of being a straight-A student. Although he was always fairly shy and timid as well, he was curious and always had a passion for current events and dreamed to be a journalist when he grew up. Damien was born and raised in Champhrier Town and moved to Lumiose City to study journalism when he was eighteen.

Damien was nineteen and had just finished his first year at the university. Damien decided to visit home for the first week of his three-month long summer break. He was going to stay with his parents for a little while. He came home on a bus and got off at a station close to his house and was greeted by his mother Rose, and his father Jerome.

Damien's mother Rose, had blue eyes, light skin and long black hair that nearly reached her waist. Rose was in her mid-forties but her appearance was akin to a woman in her late twenties. She stood at 5' 6" and typically wears a black coat on and high heels wherever she goes, giving her about an extra two inches in height.

Damien's father Jerome, had green eyes, olive skin and brown thinning hair that was shorter than Damien's. He, like Rose, was also middle aged, a little older even, and unlike her, actually had the look to accommodate it. He stood at 5' 11" and wore a brown leather jacket over a white t-shirt, jeans and boots.

Damien figured that Champhrier seems like such a small town when he has been living in such a big city like Lumiose for about a year. He was happy to see his family after having been away for so long. He missed them a lot, and he knew they missed him just as much.

* * *

(Champhrier Restaurant)

Damien spent the first three days at home recovering from finals syndrome, barely leaving the house at all. He and his family had dinner at an Italian restaurant for the fourth night he was in town. While they were seated, they discussed his year at school and what happened while he was away. He had been thinking of being a pokémon trainer for some time after he left, except that would just get in the way of his education. Other than that, he had tried to become a pokémon trainer a long time ago, dating back over ten years ago when it happened. He was just sitting still silent, staring at his cavatelli and remembering that particular day.

(Damien's flashback)

I woke up and remembered it was the day my friend Steve and I would receive our first pokémon and start our journey as pokémon trainers. I was more excited than I've ever been in my entire life. We had scheduled an appointment with Professor Sycamore to pick which pokémon we'd take for the journey. Steve had picked a bulbasaur and I had received a charmander from him that day. This particular charmander was not very friendly with me, yet I dismissed it, knowing that not every pokémon is entirely optimistic about being a human's partner to start out with. Professor Sycamore handed each of us our own pokédex to catalog each of the pokémon we would encounter.

We didn't leave town often but now and then other trainers passed through Champhrier so we had a lot of opportunities to test our strength. As I battled alongside with Charmander, he would only become nastier with every passing day. He would isolate himself from me if he could and I had no idea what he would be thinking. He wouldn't listen to me and he started acting on his own, which cost us a lot of precious moments and potential victories. I was patient none the less and kept believing we could have a good connection, eventually.

One day, we lost against a trainer when we were visiting Coumarine. I wasn't too bothered myself about being defeated up until the opposing trainer started throwing insults our way about how pathetic we were as a team, as well as slurs towards me. Charmander was… well… not pleased. I tried to console him and return him to his pokéball, but what he did was something I didn't imagine even he would ever do. Right before I could send him back into his pokéball, he used ember at my hand, causing the pokéball to fly out and fall over a cliff, not to mention the physical pain those embers caused. He took off after the other trainer and didn't even look back.

I just sat on the ground trying to make sense of what happened and my eyes started to well with tears. Where did I go wrong? My first pokémon… I was trying so hard for him and that damned charmander destroyed my confidence as a pokémon trainer and as a friend. I decided there was no point in trying to make things better as a trainer anymore and I released the rest of my pokémon. That day I swore I'd never even pick up a pokéball again, or so that was the case…

(Champhrier Restaurant)

Rose noticed Damien had not said or done anything for a few minutes and she felt the need to consult him.

"Honey, is something bothering you?" Rose asked.

Damien had come back to reality at that call.

"Oh… Uh… I was just remembering something, Mom." Damien replied.

Jerome changed the subject and asked him about the girl he was dating for a few months in his school. Her name was Molly and she majored in nursing. She had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a smile that Damien could not help falling for. He told Jerome that they broke up not a month ago.

"Oh, sorry to hear about that. Do you want to talk about it, champ?" Jerome asked.

Damien turned his head to the upper left corner and thought about it.

"She just told me she wasn't into it anymore, basically." Damien said.

What he did not tell his father was that she has been fooling around with some loud-mouthed individual who majored in PE and told Damien their relationship was a mistake. He was crushed and the depression that followed caused Damien to nearly fail a few of his courses, but Damien had gotten over it soon after finding out that guy had not been playing safe and contracted a chronic illness from her. He was so pissed afterward that it caused him to drop out of college. Damien could only imagine what those two are doing now a day.

"I bet that girl would have made an excellent trainer for my charmander." Damien thought to himself.

"Well, that's too bad. I know it must have hurt, but let me tell you something, my boy. There's someone for everyone, and even though you think you've found the perfect one, it just might not go as you planned." Jerome said.

"Thanks, Dad." Damien said as he shrugged his shoulders and looked aside.

* * *

They finished their dinner, paid for the food and left the restaurant and as they were walking out Damien told his family what he was thinking about earlier.

"Mom, Dad… I've been thinking about giving pokémon training another shot". Damien said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a pokéball.

He pressed the button on the ball and a white beam of light shot out of it and into the air. The beam formed into a flying purple pokémon with large ears, yellow eyes, black fur over its body, hovered with two claw-tipped wings and had two stubby legs. It was a noibat that Damien brought out and showed to his parents.

"Meet Boomer. I got this noibat from Alexa when I was interning at Lumiose press. I told her about the charmander I had and she gave me Boomer as a gift for working especially hard under her supervision since she just had him around." Damien explained enthusiastically.

"Well, that was awfully nice of her. It seems like you two have become really close." Jerome said to Damien.

"Yeah, I guess we have. That reminds me, she called and I need to make a trip to Ambrette town tomorrow to investigate an incident that happened nearby." Damien said.

"I thought your internship with Alexa was over." Rose skeptically said.

"It is. She just asked me to lend her a hand and go to Ambrette for her since she's crammed for time this week. She's even paying me for it." Damien said.

"Okay, so you're thinking of bringing your pokémon with you too?" Rose asked nervously.

"Yeah, it'll be good to have someone to keep me company on the trip." Damien replied.

"Well, we'll both be wishing you luck on your trip, champ." Jerome said, holding Rose close to his side with one arm.

"Thanks, you two, I'll do my best." Damien replied confidently.

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 **I would like to make something clear for a sec. I wasn't planning to post this story until it was completed. That was before I recently came across another gardevoir fanfic entitled Saviour written by the author EliteDog. That is without a doubt the most fantastic piece of literary art I have seen on this site to date. Why am I saying that? Well, it has the essential aspects that make a story great. It has an exceptional opening scene, memorable characters that develop as the story progresses and suspense moments that had me at the edge of my seat. Best of all, it's loaded with details that allow you to actually envision what is going on in the story without needing to rely too heavily on your imagination. Even with the occasional grammatical errors and parts that seem to break the fourth wall, it's still pretty damn believable and suspension of disbelief makes those problems next to non-existent. To my great dismay, based on my observation that the author has not updated this story in about a year and a half, it seems to me as if it is not progressing any further, or at least not at the moment. So I'm posting what I have currently in an effort to show the author how inspirational that story is to me. So if you like what you're seeing then be sure to thank him. And EliteDog, if you're seeing this message, thank you. Please continue your work. So many people (myself included) want to see how Cosmo and Alex turn out.**


	2. Chapter 2 - A Second Chance

**So now that I'm actually using this site, it has just occurred to me that the tab key doesn't function on this document the way it typically would on say a MS Word document. Well... whatever then. I can dig it.**

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 **A Second Chance**

(Route 7)

The next morning, Damien packed for the trip and said his goodbyes to everyone before he set out for Ambrette in the afternoon. Of course, he was still planning to come back through on his way back to Lumiose afterward. Damien walked down the road for a few hours, periodically taking breaks to rest and eat with Boomer. He came to the bridge that was recently constructed to connect Route 7 and Ambrette Town together due to the cave that connected Route 7 and Route 8 collapsing.

Damien bumped into a trainer about his age who wore a blue button up shirt under a black sweater-vest, tacky pants, black shoes and a black bow tie. This trainer's name was Shane. As standard trainer eye-contact protocol dictated, he and Damien decided to have a battle together. Damien was nervous because he had not used Boomer for battle yet and was not fully aware of Boomer's capabilities in battle. He knew Boomer knew supersonic and gust, but other than that, he was unsure, yet he knew he had to start somewhere.

Shane brought out a litleo, Damien brought out Boomer and they began the battle, Damien making the first move.

"Boomer, use your supersonic!" Damien shouted.

Boomer made a concentrated high pitched tune directed at Litleo and left him confused.

"Litleo, use headbutt!" Shane shouted.

Litleo was charging around randomly, not hitting Boomer due to his disorientation from the confusion.

"Boomer, use gust!" Damien shouted.

Boomer blasted a wave of air towards Litleo and it hit knocking him down. Litleo was still able to get back on his feet.

"Boomer, use gust again!"Damien shouted.

Boomer whipped up gust again but before it could hit Litleo, Shane made a call.

"Litleo, dodge it and use flamethrower!" Shane shouted.

Litleo got his head back together and moved to the side just in time and then blasted a hot stream of fire at Boomer, knocking him down.

"Boomer, are you okay?!" Damien shouted out of concern.

Boomer picked himself off the ground and looked back and chirped at Damien, nodding his head.

"Litleo, use headbutt one more time!" Shane shouted as Boomer got back up.

Litleo charged at Boomer at full speed and Boomer could not get out of the way it time. Litleo's headbutt landed into Boomer's stomach and he was knocked back and skid across the dirt. He was down and out. Damien ran toward Boomer and leaned down over him. He worried that Boomer would resent him just as his first pokémon did long ago, but that did not make him any less concerned at this moment.

"Are you okay, bud?" Damien asked Boomer.

Boomer was not too upset about losing their first battle as he nodded his head and got up.

"You did a great job out there. Rest up." Damien told Boomer as he returned him to his pokéball.

Damien was relieved that Boomer did not snap at him like his charmander did. Then again, Damien has known this pokémon for a good long time before he was actually given to him and they have always gotten along fine.

"Hey, man, that was a pretty good battle." Damien said to Shane.

"Thanks, you weren't too bad either." Shane said back.

"Thanks. So where are you headed, anyway?" Damien asked him.

"Me? I'm headed back to Ambrette Town, I work at the hotel there." Shane replied.

"Ah nice, I'm actually going there myself. I'm making an investigation report of the incident there for the press." Damien said.

"Yeah, I was told about that, a bunch of wild bug pokémon going nuts or something like that. Yo, dude, let's head back together." Shane said.

"You… you want to head there with me?" Damien skeptically asked.

"Sure, man, why not? You seem like a pretty cool dude to me." Sane answered.

"Well… then yeah, let's get going." Damien said with a smile.

As such, Damien had already made a friend on his journey, which surprised him, considering he was not too great at making friends before he became a trainer. It seemed as though being a trainer again already had its benefits, which was equally surprising to him just how quickly it came. They got to know each other a bit and proceeded with the trip over the bridge to Ambrette Town, hoping to make it there sometime before the sun started to set.

* * *

(Ambrette Town)

After Damien and Shane arrived in Ambrette Town, Shane decided to head home, Shane offered Damien a room to stay in and he told him he would need to head back out right after because he needed to make that report and have it in by noon the next day. He stopped at the hotel to rent a room and dropped off his traveling kit and laptop, leaving only his video camera hat device to himself. He shook Shane's hand before he went out and headed towards the edge of a forest that borders the east side of Ambrette town and the west side of central Kalos where this incident all happened.

Damien arrived at the scene to find police using fire and water-type pokémon to clean the east side of town of a bunch of webs that looked like they were caused by a bug-type's string shot, like what Shane mentioned earlier. The bug-types were still using string shot frantically and spraying webs all over the buildings and streets. The place was a mess. Damien had a talk with one of the nearby officers telling him he was there under Alexa's request and showed him his authentication. He activated his hat-cam while the officer gave him the scoop that there was a commotion in the forest that drove the wild pokémon out, most of which were bugs, and they scattered across the town in a panic. The police force and firefighters have been spending all day trying to un-web the streets and rally the wild pokémon into a sanctuary. He asked some of the other officers on the scene and they gave him the same answer, except for Deputy Camry Cruz, who claimed she knew what caused this mess in the first place.

"We were on patrol when we saw explosions coming from inside the forest. It looked too intense for us to handle alone so we called for backup." the young deputy told Damien.

"Do you know what caused those explosions?" Damien asked.

"No. I couldn't see what was going on in there. Eight officers went in to investigate, including the captain. He told me to stay behind and help the others remove the webs from the town. They've been gone for hours and they haven't returned." Camry said, her tone showing concern.

"And nobody's gone in after them?" Damien asked her.

"The captain's orders were for us to stay out here and clean up." Camry replied.

Boomer jumped off of Damien's back and hovered in the air, chirping frantically and then he immediately darted into the forest as if he was drawn in by something.

"Boomer, don't…! Get back here, Boomer! No!" Damien shouted, trying to go after Boomer, but his arm was grabbed by Camry.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe." Camry said.

"Let me go! Please! My pokémon is out there and I need to go get him!" Damien shouted anxiously.

"I'm sorry, I can't allow you to do that." Camry said.

"Then try and stop me!" Damien shouted as he jerked his arm away and took off after Boomer.

"Hey! I'm ordering you to stop!" Camry shouted.

"Damn kid…" she grunted, watching as Damien ran into the dark of the forest.

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 **Unrelated Note: Pretzels are yum =D**


	3. Chapter 3 - Taking Matters

**I guess I should make a habit of saying something important every time I open a new chapter. I have a feeling that's going to wear thin real fast. I'm going to count this statement as such, so... whatcha gonna do about it?**

 **Also, WARNING! This chapter contains some profanity, so feel free to skip this chapter if you don't like that, okay? But here it is...**

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 **Taking Matters**

(Ambrette Forest)

Damien moved his way through the wrecked foliage quietly, looking all around for Boomer.

"Damn it, Boomer, this was not part of my job description." Damien mumbled to himself.

Damien found Boomer stopped along a line of shrubs.

"Boomer, what the hell was that all about? I almost had-" Damien was saying irritably before Boomer shut his mouth to silence him.

Damien heard voices echoing from a distance. Boomer started flying off slowly and Damien followed closely behind for a moment before Boomer stopped and Damien could hear people talking. They get down beneath the shrubs and listen to where it was coming from and move slowly forward until they find four guys with pokémon scrounging around for something. They looked nothing like the police. They were wearing loose, baggy street outfits. Damien turned the camera on his hat on and watched quietly.

"Yo, did you see where it went, Trent?" Kev asked.

"I ain't seen jack!" Trent shouted back.

"We haven't looked over here yet, let's go!" Mike shouted.

"Hot damn, that thing can move." Trent said before they all took off running.

Damien stood from the ground when the strange men were cleared out.

"I wonder what it is they're looking for. Do you think they're after whatever destroyed those trees?" Damien asked Boomer quietly.

Damien did not get an answer though. They just followed them from a distance.

The strange men stopped at a wall of trees and vines.

"Aw, you gotta be kidding me. Cody, get your fat ass over here!" Mike shouted.

In came a large bulky bald man who wore a leather vest over a dark red muscle shirt, biker gloves, camo cargo pants and thick army boots. He was clearly the most threatening of the group and he came in with an irate look on his face.

"Yeah, what is it?" Cody asked with an annoyed tone.

"We saw it go that way but these dumb ass trees are in the way. You can deal with them, can't you?" Mike replied.

"You can deal with 'em, can't you?" Cody mocked.

"Of course I can handle them, you dumb shit, now move your bitch ass out of the way! Titan, get out here and use hyper beam!" Cody shouted as silver metang with a golden nose, claws, and siding studs came out of Cody's pokéball with a bad attitude.

The metal monster started shining bright colors as if it was radioactive. Everyone moved clear and took cover for what was about to happen. Titan let loose a ray of enigmatic energy towards the trees that appeared to do nothing until the entire attack landed and a horrific explosion followed, sending trees flying what seems like dozens of yards away into pieces and blew the way clear.

"Holy…" Damien said, stunned in realization as this had to be what caused the wild pokémon to flee.

Then suddenly… *Shck*. He was stuck in his left leg by a large branch that went airborne after the hyper beam struck and flew over the rock he and Boomer were hiding behind. Damien let out an involuntary yelp from the pain before he clasped his hands around his mouth to muffle the sound. Boomer looked at him with a surprised expression.

"What? Over there!" Kev shouted as he pointed at Damien.

"Oh dear Arceus…" Damien said, no longer whispering.

* * *

Damien was trying to push himself away on the ground with his legs as his wallet slipped out from his pocket without him even noticing. The guys threw out each of their pokéballs, releasing a purrloin, a woobat, a scyther and a buizel, all of which were depraved and maniacally enraged.

"Well, look what we have here. Looks like we got ourselves a hero." Cody said.

"Why are you guys doing this?!" Damien shouted in question and agony.

"That's none of your business, you lil' puke." Cody said.

He noticed Damien's wallet on the ground.

"I'll be taking this though, thank you." Cody said as he picked up the wallet.

"Take care of him." Cody said as all their pokémon except for Titan advanced towards Damien all at once.

Cody and Titan moved on through the wrecked foliage while the rest were handling Damien. Damien tried desperately to move from that spot but was unable to due to the pain the branch was causing him. Boomer jumped between him and the attacking pokémon trying to defend Damien.

"Boomer, get out of here!" Damien shouted, trying to keep Boomer out of harm's way.

Boomer snarled and whipped his wings back and forth furiously and produced a huge amount of wind powerful enough to blast all four of the pokémon away.

"That was hurricane! But how do you know that move so early?!" Damien asked before he was interrupted by the growling of the now angry opposing pokémon.

"Boomer, use supersonic!" Damien commanded.

Boomer used supersonic to confuse all the pokémon except for Buizel, who held through Boomer's noise.

"Buizel, use waterfall! Do it!" Justin demanded.

As Buizel was charging madly with a stream of water blasting from behind it, Damien remembered one day Alexa was trying to teach Boomer how to use double team for the sake of entertainment, but with occasional slip-ups. He thought he might be able to pull it off for this situation though.

"Boomer, double team! Let's go, bud!" Damien shouted.

Boomer focused as Buizel was hurtling toward them. Boomer successfully made projections of itself and Buizel phased right through one of them. Buizel stopped dead in its tracks not knowing where the real Boomer was.

"It worked, thank goodness. Now, Boomer, use gust and finish this!" Damien shouted confidently, raising a fist in the air.

Boomer used a gust attack and landed right on target and sent Buizel flying backward until it hit a tree hard on its back, knocking it out.

"Yes! You did it, bud! Give me five!" Damien shouted proudly, raising his left hand over Boomer's head.

Boomer chirped in fulfillment and slapped Damien a high five. Then the purrloin jumped in the air over Boomer and had its paw raised with a shadowy aura.

"Boomer, look out!" Damien shouted at Boomer and he turned around, utterly surprised.

There was nothing he could do to avoid it and then a flamethrower shot from the side and knocks Purrloin out of the air and away.

"What?" Damien asked in confusion.

He looked to see where it came from and saw Shane and Litleo.

"Shane, you came!" Damien shouted in disbelief and joy.

"Dude, are you nuts? You don't just run into a forest alone when it's off limits. Someone had to come and get you." Shane said.

Camry comes in behind Shane with her marill.

"Camry? But your orders…" Damien said.

"To hell with my orders. How would I explain if something bad happened to a civilian on my watch? Besides, I'm not going to let the captain put his life on the line like this for some stupid order and have some kid show me up." Camry said in a serious tone.

Damien smiled and was finally able to get up and stand.

"One of those guys took my wallet. I need to get it back. Can you cover me?" Damien asked Shane.

"With pleasure." Shane replied.

Damien and Boomer managed to slip ahead and run in pursuit of Cody while the others were preoccupied.

* * *

Damien, to the best of his abilities, was trying to run with the tip of the branch still piercing his leg and blood staining his jeans. Boomer noticed Damien was in pain and showed his concern with chirps.

"I'll be fine, bud. We need to keep moving." Damien told Boomer.

Damien and Boomer pressed on through the dirt pathway that formed a narrow gap through the forest. They arrived at a clearing with an old, worn-down cabin that sat near a steep cliff that dropped a hundred and fifty meters to the shore of the ocean at the bottom. Cody and Titan were tearing away at the old cabin's decrepit exterior aggressively.

"Hey, I'm not finished with you! Come over here and fight me, you bastard!" Damien shouted angrily.

Cody turned to Damien.

"You're starting to really piss me off, kid. Get lost. I told you this is none of your damn business." Cody replied.

"You've made this my business." Damien said in a dauntless tone.

"You shouldn't have come here, you shit! Now I'm gonna do to you what I did to those pathetic grumpigs that came after us!" Cody grunted angrily.

"Huh?" Damien asked.

"Titan, use psychic and throw those boards at them!" Cody shouted.

Titan used its psychic power to lift up the nearby boards in mid air and fling them directly towards Damien and Boomer.

"Boomer, use gust on those boards!" Damien shouted.

Boomer made a short-ranged gust of wind with his wings to deflect the boards coming at them.

"Now, use hurricane on Metang!" Damien shouted.

Boomer then used hurricane and whipped it towards Titan, completely engulfing it in wind until it was unseen. The hurricane dissipated and it appeared as if it hardly did a thing to Titan.

"Damn it!" Damien said as both he and Boomer were looking at Titan dumbfoundedly.

"Ha ha hah! Did you think you and your little flying rat could possibly leave a dent in my pokémon? Let me show you what real power is. Titan, use gyro ball on 'em!" Cody shouted.

Titan began spinning rapidly but then went out of control due to being confused by the hurricane. Titan spun into the cabin, causing boards and all other sorts of debris to fling randomly until part of the cabin collapsed on top of Titan.

"Titan, stop being such a lazy fuck and destroy 'em, now!" Cody demanded Titan.

"Boomer, now's your chance! Use double team!" Damien shouted as Titan busted out from under the debris.

Boomer had already made his projections just as Titan had snapped out of its confusion.

"Titan, use psychic on all of 'em!" Cody shouted.

Titan used its psychic power to grab hold of the real Boomer and made the projections disappear.

"Boomer… no!" Damien shouted in horror.

Titan used psychic and sent Boomer directly into a rock, injuring him in the process. Boomer tried to get up, but he was too injured from the impact and he collapsed. Titan began glowing and Damien knew what it was about to do. He knew his pokémon was in grave danger and Boomer couldn't do a thing to save himself. Damien had a moment to think of something as he realized he could call his pokémon back at any time. He had no other choice. Titan launched a hyper beam and Damien pulled out Boomer's pokéball and aimed it at him.

"Boomer, return!" Damien shouted, sending Boomer back to his pokéball just before the hyper beam hit.

The explosion followed and Damien was far enough that he did not get hurt, but the shock wave knocked him off his feet. He landed near a tank of propane lying around from when the gyro ball hit the cabin, he looked up from the ground and saw it.

"Titan, use hyper beam again!" Cody shouted.

Titan began charging itself for another hyper beam, only this time it was directed at Damien. Damien realized he had one shot at surviving the attack and he took the propane tank and threw it at Titan with all the strength he could muster.

"Huh? Titan, stop!" Cody shouted at Titan.

It was too late and Titan launched the hyper beam, hitting the propane tank and causing a fiery explosion right in its face.

The dust cleared out of the aftermath. Damien was lying on his back, facing the sky as he was dealing with the loud ringing in his ears and Titan was unconscious. Cody dropped Damien's wallet out of surprise. He briskly walked over to Titan and angrily kicked it with his steel-toed boot, rolling it over and returned it to its pokéball.

"Worthless tin can. Whatever, I can bash your face in on my own." Cody said to Damien as he cracked his knuckles and raised his fists.

* * *

Cody was prompted to attack Damien physically, just before Mike and Trent were seen running past him.

"What's you guys' problem? Get back over here!" Cody shouted, but they did not stop or answer.

"Stop!" Camry shouted as she and Shane were chasing after them with their pokémon at their sides.

Damien was coming around as he could now hear something other than the traumatic ringing from the explosion. He stood up.

"Camry, they were behind the disappearance of the police!" Damien told her.

"You're under arrest! Hands where I can see them!" Camry shouted at Cody.

Mike and Trent came back in a strange armored vehicle and quickly let Cody in. They drove off, almost hitting Camry and Shane in the process.

"Hey, get back here!" Camry screamed as the men disappeared from sight.

"Arceus damn it!" Camry shouted, angrily kicking a board over.

"They got away." Damien said to Camry disappointedly.

She sighed.

"Did you get your wallet back?" Camry asked.

Damien looked to where his wallet fell and picked it up.

"I got it." Damien said, putting it away.

"Then I guess there's no point in going after them now. I still have two leads. I'll have everything we need after I have a little _chat_ with them to see what they were up to and what they did with the others from my force. Thanks, by the way, none of this would have been possible without your bravery." Camry said with an honest face as she shook hands with Damien and Shane and walked away.

* * *

"Damien, you gonna come along?" Shane asked Damien.

Though Damien did not respond to Shane's call he heard what he asked as he looked inside the cabin.

"Damien?" Shane asked again.

"I think those guys were tracking something down in this cabin. Shane, can you come with me real quick?" Damien asked Shane, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I don't think that's a good idea, man." Shane said with concern.

Damien carefully stepped into the cabin from where Titan crashed and began looking around with a flashlight while Shane stayed just outside. Damien had been searching around the first floor and found nothing of particular interest. He noticed the stairs to the second floor were utterly destroyed making it difficult if not impossible for him to reach the second floor if needed to. Damien came up with an idea. He brought out Boomer to see if he could help in the search.

"Are you feeling better, bud?" Damien asked whilst kneeling down in front of Boomer.

Boomer chirped happily and nibbled Damien on the head as a way of thanking him for saving his life.

"Ha hah, I'm happy you're okay too, Boomer. Can you help me find something in here?" Damien asked Boomer.

Boomer flew into the middle of the foyer and started emitting his supersonic waves. Boomer had been trained to use his supersonic as a means to utilize sound waves and seek out everything including what cannot be seen in the dark. Alexa taught him this to find working equipment in her storage closet when there was a problem with the lights, or when she was too preoccupied with something else or too lazy to get it herself. Boomer was chirping and flying around in circles.

"You found something! Shane, let's check it out!" Damien shouted excitedly at Shane from inside the cabin.

"Ughh…" Shane groaned as he reluctantly followed Damien in.

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 **PLOT CONVENIENCE WALLET!**

 **I seriously hate having to write out the battle scenes, I have nearly half this story completed already and so far I find this type of scene the least enjoyable. I hope this isn't putting a damper on my portrayal of how it played out in my mind, but I just can't stand them sometimes! I can't really say the same for other writers out there who might actually take pride in doing battle scenes so, whatever. More power to you, I guess.**

 **Boomer's knowing hurricane so early comes from me breeding 2 noibats that I caught fresh from Victory Road in Pokémon X. They both knew hurricane, so when I bred them I ended up with a noibat that knew hurricane upon hatching, which surprised me. That noibat's 5 IV son was named Boomer.**

 **Unrelated Note: Pill bugs are not actually bugs, they're crabs.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Imprinted

**I tried to get a hold of someone on DeviantArt asking her for permission to use one of her pictures for the story's cover image since it most accurately portrays one of my main characters. I'm talkin' bout the one that has yet to be introduced in the story. Starting to wish I thought of that ahead of time because now I'm looking at this space that should be occupied by an image and not words. ]:(**

 **I hope I can get an answer at some point throughout this lil' project of mine.**

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 **Imprinted**

Boomer led them down to the basement, where there was a desk, a fire place, a few dressers and a bed all of which were covered in dust. Boomer stopped and chirped while pointing to the other side of the bed. Damien took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was behind that bed. He walked over and that was when he saw… her.

Laid before him was a small milky-white pokémon that had two arms and two legs wrapped in a skin-tight spandex pants-like fabric and a dress, looking almost human. She had two crystalline horns on her head, hair draping both sides of her head and had the face of an angel.

Damien recognised this pokémon as a kirlia. This kirlia was wearing a green amulet around her neck with a strange stone embedded in the middle. She had cuts and bruises around her body, her skirt was tattered and her horns were cracked. She was unconscious and Damien could tell she was very sad and deprived, and her hair and legs were very pink. He gasped as he felt like his heart was broken to the sight of this fragile pokémon being as injured and miserable as it was.

"How could they do this to such a beautiful kirlia?" Damien thought to himself.

Kirlia then woke up to see Damien crouching near her. With eyes glowing a brilliant light blue, she created a pulse with her mind that pushed him away and over the bed. Shane over-reacted.

"Damien, what happened? Do you want us to take care of it?!" Shane shouted.

He, Litleo and Boomer were in defensive position.

"No, stop! It's just scared." Damien said, trying to be calm and holding his hands forward.

He slowly walked back over to the quivering pokémon and crouched by her.

"You've been hurting, haven't you?" Damien asked the kirlia with extreme care.

Kirlia looked up at Damien a second time and caught a glimpse of his emotions. They were neither violent nor antagonistic like the people that pursued her. They were only benevolent and caring, and almost as lonely as she felt.

"I'm going to take you away from all of this, alright?" Damien asked as he reached towards the kirlia with his left hand, wanting for her to take it.

What she did after caught Damien completely by surprise. She leaped onto him, holding him by his shoulders and cried into his chest. He sat down on the bed, holding the kirlia and brushing her hair as his own eyes began to well up in sympathy against his own will. Shane, feeling awkward, decided to wait outside the cabin.

"So… I'm just gonna be outside, come get me when you're ready to go." Shane said to Damien.

Damien waved him out as he sat on the bed with Kirlia and comforted her until she cried herself back to sleep.

* * *

Damien stepped out of the cabin after ten or so minutes cradling the now sleeping kirlia in his arms.

"Come on, Shane, let's get out of here." Damien said with determination.

"Huh?" Shane asked in question as to why Damien was being adamant all of a sudden.

"This pokémon's in real bad shape, man. We need to get her to the pokécenter, now." Damien stated with the same tone.

Shane stood for a moment.

"Her?" Shane asked.

None the less, he went alongside Damien, respectful of his feelings.

"I need to bandage up this son of a bitch too." Damien groaned to himself in reference to his leg wound, now soaking his left pant leg in blood.

* * *

(Ambrette Pokécenter)

After a long walk to the Ambrette pokécenter, everybody made it and both Damien and Shane placed their pokémon under Nurse Joy's care. Litleo and Boomer were released early after diagnosis and nothing of major concern was found from their injuries. They felt completely refreshed and they returned to their respective trainers. Damien was having his leg wound stitched by a nurse Joy.

"Your leg seems to have gotten infected from walking with that contaminated tree branch lodged into it. I'm sorry, but for the next four weeks, I ask that you use a crutch while walking to prevent putting pressure on the wound. I also need you to take these prescribed antibiotics twice a day until the stitches completely dissolve." Joy stated to Damien, handing him a crutch and the flask of antibiotics.

"Thanks, Joy, but I'm more concerned for Kirlia. Please tell me she'll be alright." Damien pleaded with concern.

"We're doing all we can for her, but I'm afraid she's gone under a lot of distress, both physically and psychologically. I'm terribly sorry to say this, but we believe it will take a miracle for her to survive, and chances are if she does, she won't be the same after this." the young nurse said in reluctance.

Damien looked down feeling disappointed and guilty, unable to shake the feeling that he might lose Kirlia like this and that he would be partially responsible for not rescuing her sooner. He had only just met the pokémon but he felt oddly imprinted to her and he wondered why. It was almost as if he knew this kirlia his entire life, despite not actually knowing anything about her. He did not know what he would do if he could not see her smile afterwards. That was when he remembered the report he had to make and he walked with a crutch into the reception room where Shane was.

Shane noticed the crutch Damien had with him.

"Damien, how you doing, man?" Shane asked, pretending as if he did not notice the crutch.

"My leg's going to be fine, Shane, I just need to use this freaking thing for about a month." Damien told Shane.

They walked back into the infirmary, looking at Kirlia, who was laying on a medical bed behind a quarantine glass and surrounded by medical equipment. She had bandages over her arms, legs and torso, each one visibly bloodstained enough that it was visible to the two humans that were examining her.

"Hey, Shane?" Damien asked.

"Yeah?" Shane asked back.

"I hate to impose, but remember when I left my stuff at the hotel? I need my laptop so I can finish my report. Can you please go grab it for me?" Damien asked Shane.

"No problem, I'm glad to help out." Shane replied.

"Thanks, you're the man." Damien said as Shane was walking out the door.

"No way, you're the man." Shane said to Damien as he left to grab the item Damien requested.

Damien resumed looking at Kirlia passed the glass afterwards.

* * *

"Excuse me, are you by chance new at pokémon training? If so, I would like to make a suggestion. It is recommended that you would rent a room from our facility so you'll be right nearby when something comes up. Trainers are eligible to rent a room free of charge." Joy said to Damien as she stopped by on him.

"Oh wow, really? I never even knew." Damien said, feeling a little embarrassed that he already paid for a hotel room.

"Your friend told me about what happened in the forest. You know, your kirlia is very fortunate to have a trainer like you." Joy said to Damien.

"I would wait as long as it takes to see that Kirlia pulls through." Damien said to her with feeling, not taking his eyes off of Kirlia.

Joy smiled.

"Wait a minute, she's not my pokémon. I just saved her from a bunch of thugs. Truth is, I only just got to know this pokémon. I don't even know if she has a trainer or not but I can't lose her like this. I won't lose her like this." Damien said as he looked back and placed his left hand on the glass.

Joy placed her right hand on her chest feeling warmhearted after seeing the endearing gesture Damien just made for this strange pokémon.

"Well, I have news for you. Our analysis indicates that she is not, nor has she ever been owned by another trainer." Joy said, catching Damien's full attention.

"Also, I've been holding on to something for awhile that I think you should have. Wait right here." Joy said while going into her office.

She came back not a minute later with a pokéball in her hands. It was a cherry-red pokéball with a black sealing surrounding it.

"I want you to have this. It's a cherish ball, a rare pokéball made to commemorate special occasions." Joy said as she placed the pokéball in Damien's hands.

"It sounds very valuable. I'm not sure I can accept this." Damien said, feeling imposed.

"Please, I insist. It's been ages since I've come across a trainer who shows such compassion for pokémon other than their own. I can't think of anyone who would be more deserving of it." Joy explained.

"Wow. I don't really know what to say, but… thank you, Nurse Joy." Damien said, guessing in his head what Joy would expect him to do with it.

"Just remember me when you use it, can you do that for me? And please, you can call me Casey." the nurse named Casey said just before they paused for a moment and gazed at each other, smiling.

Casey breaks the silence.

"You know, I've never seen a kirlia like this one before." Casey said.

"No?" Damien asked her.

"I've seen many of them with green hair and red eyes, a few with blue hair and orange eyes, but never once have I seen one with bright pink hair and dark blue eyes… and luminescent blue horns. In fact, I don't think there's ever been a kirlia like this one documented to date." Casey said with realization.

"Oh, I just thought she looked that way because of the injuries, come to think of it…" Damien mumbled as he whipped out his pokédex and aimed it at Kirlia.

"Kirlia, the emotion pokémon. It is the evolved form of Ralts and the pre-evolved form of Gardevoir. Kirlia uses the horns on its head to amplify its psychokinetic power. When the pokémon uses its power, the air around it becomes distorted, creating mirages of nonexistent scenery." the pokédex states as it displays a kirlia with normal coloring.

"Those horns on her head haven't stopped glowing since she leapt into my arms. I also saw something when she hit me with that pulse." Damien said as he looked down, trying to piece together what images he could make out.

"A woman… I'm crying… and what the heck is that thing?!" he thought to himself.

Damien saw a light gray creature with twisted, glowing horns on its head and fire shooting from its armored torso and looked very, very, infuriated.

* * *

Camry came in looking for Damien.

"Damien, there you are. I was hoping I would catch you before you left town." Camry said to Damien not so optimistically.

"What can I help you with now, ma'am?" Damien asked.

"I just wanted to let you know that after my talk with those two fools I found out what they did with the others from my station." Camry said.

"What's that?" Damien asked, feeling uneasy.

"Those sons a' bitches jumped them when they went investigating. They were told to clear out of the forest and they refused and attacked the rest of my unit. They didn't even have a chance to react or call out their pokémon, they were just completely caught off guard. The captain and a few others are banged up, but the rest… they're in real bad shape." Camry stopped and looked down regretfully.

"I'm sorry." Damien said with sympathy.

"I never should have stayed behind." Camry said angrily, facing away and at the floor.

"Because of me… the others… they almost…" Camry said, stuttering sadly.

"Don't be like that. You had your orders and you couldn't have known it would turn out that way. Look, those guys are going to pay one way or another, I wouldn't doubt it for a second." Damien said, trying to console her.

"Thank you. They also said they were part of a group of hunters hired by someone called Cutter and that they were looking for a pokémon out there." Camry said, focusing on the subject.

"Would this be the one you're talking about?" Casey asked as she pointed at the injured kirlia.

Camry walked towards the glass and took a good look beyond it to the pink kirlia.

"Why is that kirlia pink?" Camry asked.

"Damien rescued her out in the woods and brought her back here. She'll be under our care for what we estimate to be about a week tops." Casey stated.

"She's really pretty." Camry could not help admitting.

Camry taking a sight at the kirlia made her feel a little better as well.

"We'd like you to share any knowledge on this pokémon that you may receive with us." Camry said.

"Understood. We'll be sure to inform you as we proceed." Casey said.

"Thank you for your co-operation, Nurse, and Damien, thank you for everything you've done tonight. The captain might not have come back at all if it weren't for you." Camry said before she walked out.

* * *

Shane shows up with Damien's laptop.

"Yo, here's your thing that you wanted!" Shane shouts before laughing at Damien's crutch and handing him the laptop case.

"Ha hah, thanks, Shane." Damien replied with a sarcastic laugh.

"Look, I just got back and all, but it's like one in the morning so… I'm gonna get some shut-eye. Will I see you tomorrow, man?" Shane asks.

"You got it." Damien replied before the two bumped fists.

"Nice, I can even show you some tricks in battling if you want. Peace out." Shane said as he walked out of the pokécenter.

"He's a good guy, that one." Damien said to Casey.

He then pulled his laptop out of the case and took his hat-cam off the table before hooking it to his laptop via USB. Casey decided to stick around and watch Damien as he was making edits to the film, seeing as how there were no other patients in the meantime. Damien looks over his shoulder at Casey.

"Oh, sorry. I'm not distracting you, am I?" Casey asked Damien softly with a blush.

"Oh, no you're fine. I appreciate the company." Damien replied, still focused on his work.

"So you're a journalist of some sort, right?" Casey asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean I'm still studying journalism, I'm not exactly a journalist yet." Damien explained.

"That must be interesting. I imagine you get to travel a lot." Casey presumed.

"Eh, you'd think that I would but I don't really, unfortunately." Damien replied.

"Oh." Casey said.

Damien and Casey kept discussing each other's occupations while Damien was making film edits until the film footage turned to static when Kirlia pushed Damien away with her psychic pulse.

"Aw, damn it! My camera must have been broken when Kirlia hit me with that pulse. That's my fault though, I should have given her more space. Not like it matters right now anyway, there wasn't more to this case after that, I already have everything I need." Damien explained.

"Hey Casey, when does your shift end anyways?" Damien asked Casey.

"My shift? It started at ten and ends at six. Why do you ask?" Casey asked back.

"Do you like working this late at night?" Damien asked her.

"Well, I'm not exactly thrilled that I have to sleep away most of my day, but the interesting people that I meet this late at night sort of make up for it at least… people like you, Damien." Casey said with a blushed smile, which Damien returned.

Damien noticed the time and started working on his report again, hoping he would have no further distractions. Casey let him be and went back to the counter. Damien worked on his report nonstop and after countless typing, clicking and dragging he was finished at four. He forwarded the files to Alexa's email and afterwards he just passed out, face flat against the table.

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 **There she is… The character that everyone… Anyways, I've been thinking. At some point I will be taking suggestions if you have any. Not now, later when I have my 13th chapter entitled Development posted and that comes up to somewhere over 30k words. It'll be posted maybe during the weekend if I'm not too overwhelmed with my calculus work. GOOD GOD! As if I wasn't already losing my mind without that crap in my face. You're probably not here to see me complaining about stuff though (or maybe you are), so if you want to follow up on this story and wait patiently like a good lil' reader would, then I will be happy to read those suggestions _when that time comes_. But like I've been saying, I already have the story planned out and I have roughly half of it written in words on a word processor so chances are it won't be incorporated into the story if it interferes with my predetermined plot, but don't let that scare you though. I still love ya'll!**

 **Unrelated Note: Unlike most big cats, snow leopards do not roar.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Acquaintance

**I was looking at the page of the artist who drew the picture I mentioned earlier and upon inspection I found that there has not been signs of activity for years. So I don't think I'm getting my hands on that image. I suppose that means I'll just have to bust out the ol' pencil and paper and load up photoshop and try to do it all by scratch. In the mean time I'll try to find another image but there doesn't seem to be that many pictures of pink gardevoirs on the internet.**

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 **Acquaintence**

Damien woke up realizing he fell asleep after he was finished with his assignment. He looked at the clock and noticed it is one in the afternoon. He got up and the first thing that came to mind was how Kirlia was doing. He walked over on his crutch to the glass wall to see that in the past nine hours most of Kirlia's injuries have disappeared, her skirt was mended and the cracks on her horns were nearly gone. He also noticed that she seems a little less traumatized as well. A nurse entered, and though she appeared similar to Casey, Damien could tell it was not her.

"Oh, you're finally awake." said the nurse.

"Who are you?" Damien asked.

"My name is Kelly. I'm Casey's sister and I run the six to two shift. She has told me an _awful lot_ about you." Kelly replied.

"It's nice to meet you." Damien said before he turned his head back towards Kirlia.

"Your kirlia is healing at an alarming rate. It seems as if she was suddenly motivated to fight through her injuries as soon as possible at some point throughout the night. It's not unusual for her species to exhibit this type of behavior, but these frequencies are absolutely phenomenal! If our calculations are correct, not only will she be just fine, but she'll be as good as new in about two days." Kelly said with amazement while looking at the monitor.

Kirlia's horns stopped glowing.

"Huh?" Damien asked as he noticed this.

Kirlia opened her eyes and for the first time, Damien could see them clearly. He nearly gasped when he first saw them. There was something about them that helplessly captivated him. They exchanged gazes with one another and they could not look away. Kirlia's eyes had large pupils and dark blue irises that shone like sapphires. Kirlia peered into Damien's green eyes, which especially stood out with his less than fair skin tone. What she really saw into was his emotions radiating in a blue, green and yellow aura, giving the sensation of positivity and compassion. Damien then heard it.

" _Thank… you… hero._ " an echoing feminine voice said.

Damien turned towards Kelly.

"Excuse me?" Damien asked.

"Huh? I didn't say anything." Kelly replied.

Damien looked around the room to see if there was anyone else around who could have talked to him.

" _No, over here._ " the same voice spoke in Damien's head.

Damien looked back to Kirlia.

"Did… _you_ say that?" Damien asked the kirlia, looking at her questionably.

Kirlia went back to sleep afterward.

"Sir, is everything okay?" Kelly asked.

"I think she just spoke to me." Damien said to Kelly, feeling bewildered.

Kelly chuckled.

"I guess no one told you, her species can communicate with humans using telepathy. It's uncommon considering the only people they do it with are people they trust. Are you sure you two haven't already met?" Kelly teased, leaning forward and smiling.

"Wow, so this is telepathy…" Damien said in awe.

"They're also capable of reading the minds of others, so do be careful of what you're thinking when you're around them." Kelly stated.

"Well if that's the case, then… aw, crap." Damien said to himself with a shock.

"Is there something wrong, sir?" Kelly asks him.

"Oh, no, it's nothing. Nevermind." Damien replied nervously, smiling and scratching the back of his head.

* * *

(Ambrette Town)

Damien left the pokécenter with Boomer for a while to train with Shane and his litleo, seeing as how he wanted for Boomer to be stronger in battle. They trained Boomer's endurance against incoming attacks since that was his weakest link. They had Litleo use moves like head-butt and flamethrower on Boomer repeatedly so he could be more conditioned against attacks. This went on for an hour before they took a break and Boomer has already shown signs of improvement. Afterwards, they trained Litleo to guard against supersonic attacks more effectively.

Shane showed Damien around Ambrette Town for a while, then it came time for dinner and they ordered pizza and wings and played video games in Shane's suite that night. Damien decided to take another night at the pokécenter with Kirlia.

* * *

(Ambrette Pokécenter)

Damien showed up at the pokécenter at about nine at night. He decided to follow up on Casey's advice and rent a room from the pokécenter. He rented a room on the second floor from Amanda, Casey and Kelly's triplet sister who runs the evening shift. Damien told Shane about this and he accepted as he helped carry his things in for him since he was unable to carry it all with his leg wounded. They said their goodnights before Shane headed for home and Damien went to check on Kirlia. He entered the infirmary and looked passed the quarantine glass to find her awake and walking around the medical room, bandages and all. Kirlia seemed to be strained from being confined to the small room with no one else to keep her company. She then noticed him.

"Ah, my hero returns." Kirlia said with a relieved tone and a smile.

Damien shuddered a bit, still feeling uneasy about being telepathically spoken to, but shook it off as quickly as it came.

"Hey there, I'm glad to see you're doing so well. How are you feeling?" Damien asked the kirlia.

Kirlia moved her arms behind her back and cupped her hands together while she faced down at the floor.

"Though I must admit that I do feel rather rejuvenated, I do not enjoy being contained in such a small space on my own. I do not wish to sound ungrateful for their hospitality. However, I would much rather be on the outside where you are." the kirlia said with a quirky tone and then looked back up to Damien's eyes.

"Oh… well, if you want I can ask the nurse if you can come out for a while." Damien replied.

"You have my thanks!" the kirlia replied with a curtsey.

Damien went up to the counter to try and carry out Kirlia's request.

"Hey, Amanda, is it alright if my kirlia comes out for a visit?" Damien asked Amanda.

"Sorry, sir, but we aren't authorized to let your pokémon out of the operating room until the specified date to be sure the procedures are successful, which would be the morning after tomorrow." Amanda replied.

"That is most shameful." a voice rung in Damien's head.

"I know that voice…" Damien thought to himself.

He slowly looked to his right to see Kirlia standing right next to him with a dissatisfied look on her face. She heard the conversation from the other room and decided to teleport herself out and next to Damien.

"Wha…? How did you get out here?!" Damien asked with a surprised tone.

"Sweetie, you can't be out here. You need to get back to your room and rest." Amanda said to Kirlia while approaching her and trying to convince her to come.

" _Kirliaaaaaaaaah!_ " Kirlia began to whine with her actual voice while clinging tightly to Damien's leg.

"Sweetheart, you need to come with me, now." Amanda said, feeling a little irritated and trying to take Kirlia by the hand.

Kirlia then let out an ear-splitting shout that actually blew Amanda off her feet and made her hit a wall.

Casey arrived at the pokécenter for her shift when Amanda is getting herself off the floor, there was a large indent in the wall near Amanda, Damien was stunned and Kirlia was quivering at Damien's right leg in fear.

"I… did it." Kirlia said with a trembling voice.

Casey dropped her purse on the floor unwittingly.

"What is going on here?!" Casey shouted in confusion.

"I'm done, that's what's going on. I'm out of here. They're your problem now." Amanda said as she stormed out the front door, trying not to completely lose her temper.

Casey looked over at Damien.

"Sorry about this. I can pay for that." Damien said, hoping Kirlia would not be blamed.

"Ugh… it's not your fault, the afternoon shift is prime time and it always has her so stressed. At least _she_ doesn't have to work till' six in the morning like I do." Casey quietly retorted while looking back at the door.

"So, maybe you'd like to tell me what happened." Casey told Damien.

Kirlia squeezed Damien's leg tighter, hoping he would not get her into trouble. Damien took the time to explain to Casey the situation with Amanda to the best of his abilities without frightening the already scared little kirlia any further.

"It sounds to me like your pokémon used hyper voice on my sister in self-defense." Casey said.

"Hyper voice?" Damien asked.

"It's a powerful move that can be used to overwhelm, disorient and even literally blow people and pokémon away. What's strange is that her species doesn't learn that move naturally. I have to say, this kirlia is quite remarkable for certain." Casey told Damien, who was looking at Kirlia in amazement.

"You know, your pokémon has grown quite attached to you in such a short amount of time. She doesn't seem to co-operate with the rest of us the way she has with you. Maybe it would be best if she spends the night with you so she can relax." Casey suggested.

Damien was surprised about what he just heard but he could not argue with that logic, and Kirlia was especially pleased to hear that.

Damien took Kirlia by the hand and they both walked to the room he rented.

* * *

Damien and Kirlia enter the room.

"Well, that was something else. We should both get some sleep." Damien said to Kirlia.

He took a seat on his bed.

"I'm not sure what we're going to do here for sleeping arrangements. I only rented a room for one." Damien said, trying to think of a solution.

"Would you allow me to sleep with you?" the kirlia obliviously asked.

"What?" Damien asked, feeling slightly alarmed.

"I am accustomed to sleeping alongside another for comfort, be they family or friends. It would not go unappreciated if I may sleep alongside my hero." Kirlia said while blushing.

"I guess you could sleep with me if you wanted to if that's the case." Damien said, feeling awkward for not even hesitating to say that.

"I would like that." Kirlia said with a smile.

Damien went to the bathroom and shaved before he went to bed and came out wearing a tank top and boxers. He usually just wears his boxers when he goes to sleep but since he has company, he thought it would be courteous to be a little less exposed than that to his guest. When he came out, Kirlia was already asleep to his surprise. He carefully pulled the blanket over the small pokémon and watched her stir around to make herself more comfortable. He opened the window to let the breeze in before he put his crutch down and lowered himself into bed.

Damien had trouble sleeping, he was wondering what Alexa thought of his report, he had not checked his email all day and it was driving him nuts. Kirlia then rolled over towards Damien and nuzzled him in the chest in her sleep. Seeing her peaceful face and knowing that she felt safe with him was enough to make his problems vanish. He held onto Kirlia and drifted to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Kirlia woke up to a pleasant smell and opened her eyes and yawned. She turned over for a moment, looking at Damien's unconscious face.

"He has been so kind. I do not know how I could repay him for what he has done for me." Kirlia thought to herself for a moment with a smile before she stretched and got out of bed.

Kirlia jumped onto the chair that sat next to the window to see what was outside. The first thing she noticed was the small tree outside the building. It bloomed with gorgeous pink buds that she believed to be the source of the fragrance. Kirlia used psychic to gently pluck one of the buds and carry it in through the window. She held it in her hands staring at it, caressing the waxy petals until they fell apart. It startled her. Damien woke up soon after. He opened his eyes and saw Kirlia looking at the tree some more.

"You're up early. How was your sleep?" Damien asked Kirlia.

"My hero, you have awakened!" Kirlia shouted to him before she went to hug him.

"Whoa, hey…" Damien said, surprised by the sudden and affectionate hug, yet welcoming of it as he returned it gently.

Kirlia let go of Damien.

"Pardon me. What is this tree?" Kirlia asked as she pointed at the tree out the window.

Damien looked at the tree and back to Kirlia and noticed the piece of hair covering her face.

"That? It's a cherry blossom tree. They're known for their sweetness, their beauty, and their short blooming season that is symbolic for life's preciousness." Damien said while pushing Kirlia's hair back to the side of her head.

"It is quite beautiful, hero." Kirlia said, smiling.

"You don't have to keep calling me 'hero', you can just call me by my name, Damien." Damien stated to her with a chuckle.

" _Damien_. How quaint." Kirlia said.

"Do you have a name?" Damien asked the kirlia.

She shook her head sideways.

"Well… what should I call you then?" Damien asked.

He sat still, thinking for a moment. Damien took notice of the remaining cherry blossom petals in Kirlia's hands.

"What if we named you _Sakura_ since it's a name commonly associated with cherry blossoms? What do you think?" Damien asked, leaning down and taking the petals from her hand.

Kirlia stood for a moment, thinking it over before she decided.

"I adore it. Thank you." the kirlia said before giving Damien another hug, accepting her new name as Sakura.

* * *

(In Cutter's office)

"I'm telling you, that damn kid showed up and screwed everything up!" Cody shouted.

"So, you mean to tell me that not only did you get your dumb asses handed to you by three kids and ran out empty-handed, but left your associates behind as well?" an angry deep voice said to Cody.

The chair swiveled around and a man called Cutter stood over his desk and revealed himself. Cutter had long wavy red hair that covered most of his face which was covered by a dark, lustrous mask, a large beige suit including a top hat, white gloves and carried a cane with a round, blue stone with a black S shape in the middle on the handle's end. He faces Cody, Mike and Trent, who were standing in the middle of the office.

"Do you realize what you caused by doing that?" Cutter asked angrily as he turned on the television and showed Cody a playback of yesterday's news.

"Five of the police officers investigating Ambrette Town's forest have been confirmed to be in critical condition. Thanks to the help of a courageous young journalist the police were able to arrest two of the five culprits, Kev and Justin, who were sentenced to at least twenty years in prison for attempted murder of police. Though the other three are still wanted for the same felonies, we were able to acquire information from said criminals currently under the department's detainment. They claimed to have been assigned to capture a kirlia for an individual who goes by the alias, Cutter." the anchor woman said on the TV.

Cutter turns off the TV screen.

"Thanks to you clowns my plan is stalled and on top of that, I have to lay low until the authorities stop searching around for me. I paid for the best money can buy and this is what I get? Montague, come!" Cutter commanded angrily as he snapped his fingers.

A gallade named Montague came in from the door behind Mike, Trent and Cody with his arms crossed. This particular gallade was tall for his kind, had a scorch mark on his left cheek and was wearing a thick leather belt with gold inlays and an empty circular slot in the middle.

"So, gentlemen, tell me now why I shouldn't have your necks broken where you stand?" Cutter asked, raising an open hand with a threatening demeanor.

The men stood there, stuttering in panic.

"Actually, you know what? I think I'm going to let this one slide. Consider this your lucky day." Cutter said, lowering his hand.

"What? Why?" Trent asked.

"Because, I have another job for you in the future, one I'm sure you can't fail next time around. In the meantime, you're free to do as you please. Just remember, I already paid you half of the money in advance for the last task you couldn't complete so you'd better come when you are summoned and do the job right. And if you don't, you will be tracked down and you will be wishing you died in here. Are we understood?" Cutter asked.

The three men nodded without saying a thing. Cutter signaled for Montague to move from the doorway.

"Now, get out of my office!" Cutter demanded.

They turned around and walked out of the office calmly, yet mentally scarred by this threat.

"What a bunch of fools. You know what happens next, my friend." Cutter said to Montague.

Montague scowled menacingly.

* * *

(Ambrette Pokécenter)

"Sakura, I need you to stay here. I'm just going to be gone for a little while to spend time with my friend." Damien said to Sakura.

"No! Please do not leave me, Damien. Your company brings me solace in this place and yours alone." Sakura said, pulling at Damien's pant leg.

"I know, and I promise I won't be gone for long. I'm just going to have a visit with my friend and grab something to eat and hang out for a bit then I'll come straight back, alright?" Damien asked her.

"Well… do you promise?" Sakura asked needlessly.

Damien nodded his head yes.

"Very well." Sakura said as she let go of Damien's leg.

* * *

(Ambrette Hotel)

Damien arrived at the hotel shortly after he left the pokécenter. Shane meets him in the lobby and Damien falls into a couch in exhaustion.

"Ugh… Dude, that pokémon can't stand to be away from me for five freaking minutes. She's terrified when anyone else comes near her. Did you know she used hyper voice on Amanda last night when she tried to take her back to the operating room?" Damien asked.

"No way, for reals?" Shane asked.

"Yeah… for reals. It's ridiculous, I don't get to travel as often as I used to and this isn't what I thought visiting Ambrette would be." Damien said to Shane.

"Well, when did you say Kirlia's operation was going to be done? In like, one more day? So it won't be much longer until you can do whatever again." Shane said to him.

"Wait, I just realized something. You're not supposed to walk without a crutch for a month, right? So how are you going to get home?" Shane asked Damien.

"Hmm… It's not like I'm gonna walk all the way back on crutches. Man, what a pain in the ass that would be. Well, I guess I'll just have to take a bus back home." Damien replied.

"So, are we going out for lunch or what?" Damien asked.

After they stopped for lunch at the café and fed their pokémon Damien and Shane went back to the hotel and sat around in the lobby. They were discussing where they should have their rematch.

"I can't think of any really awesome places to do this, do you have any ideas." Shane asked.

"I wonder if that basketball court at the pokécenter would be an okay place for a battle." Damien replied.

"Yeah, I don't see why that wouldn't work. We'd have to wait until about evening time though, there's always a game going on there at this time of day." Shane explained.

* * *

(Ambrette Pokécenter)

Damien and Shane stopped into the rec suite of the hotel and chilled out for a bit before they left for the battle. They set up the battle on the basketball court and drew a small crowd in the process. Sakura was watching through the window in Damien's room. Shane and Damien brought out their pokémon Litleo and Boomer respectively and the battle has begun. Damien started off with the first strike.

"Boomer, let's start this off with gust!" Damien shouted.

Boomer blasted small, numerous gusts of wind towards Litleo.

"Litleo, Dodge it!" Shane shouted.

Litleo was bounding side to side, avoiding the attack completely.

"Use noble roar!" Shane shouted.

Litleo made a growling sound that made Boomer slightly uneasy.

"Easy, Boomer, fly in close and use double team!" Damien shouted.

Boomer was flying towards Litleo and making double team projections around simultaneously.

"Litleo, use flamethrower on all of them!" Shane shouted.

Litleo used his flamethrower attack on all of the projections and hit Boomer.

"Now use hurricane!" Damien shouted.

Boomer used his hurricane to catch Litleo's flamethrower attack and redirected it to cause cumulative damage to Litleo. Litleo was knocked into the air but landed on his feet, looking strained.

"Hey, that was a pretty neat trick there. Let's show you some of our own. Litleo, use take down with a fire fang!" Shane shouted.

Litleo jumped off his hind legs sprinting. As he was heading towards Boomer flames were spewing from his mouth.

"So, it's like that huh? Boomer, fly towards Litleo and use gust behind you to push yourself faster and use bite!" Damien shouted.

Boomer whipped his wings and made a gust behind him. Boomer immediately took off towards Litleo and began extending his fangs. Both pokémon were hurdling towards each other like missiles and the crowd was watching with anticipation. Time seemed to slow down at the moment of collision. As the two pokémon came into contact they made a _cling_ sound and a flash of light. They stopped in place and stood still for what seemed like forever for those watching in anticipation, then they both fell knocked out and the battle has ended in a draw. The audience walked away talking about the battle and Damien and Shane called their pokémon back.

"Now that was a solid battle. Both our pokémon are a lot stronger than they were the first time they battled." Damien said.

"You said it, man. It's a good thing we're right near the pokécenter. These two look pooped." Shane replied.

* * *

The two took their pokémon into the pokécenter to be rested. The pokémon were hungry again after battling so hard so they were served food again afterward.

"Here's your order, you little fatties." Shane said casually to Litleo and Boomer, handing them their plates of pokémon food.

Sakura came into the lobby looking for Damien.

"Damien, I watched you and your friend outside. That was… a training session, yes?" Sakura asked Damien.

"Um… yes, yes it was a training session." Damien said.

"It was quite an entertaining sight." Sakura said.

Boomer grunts at her saying that and resumes eating his food.

"I haven't introduced you to everyone yet. This is my partner Boomer, and this is my friend Shane, and his partner Litleo. I couldn't have saved you without their help." Damien said to Sakura.

"I am charmed to meet you all." Sakura said as she sheepishly curtsied before everyone.

"She says it's nice to meet you guys." Damien said to Shane, translating her thoughts into words since he was the only one who could hear her thoughts.

"Here, would you like to try this? I don't think you've tried this kind of food before." Damien said to Sakura, handing her a pellet of pokémon food.

She took it in her hands and examined it before taking a soft nibble out of it.

"Blegh." Sakura moaned while sticking her tongue out, making it clear that she was not fond of the taste.

"You don't like it, huh? That's okay, I can get you something else later." Damien said to Sakura.

"Hey did you hear the evening news yesterday? Alexa was talking about you, Damien." Kelly said to Damien.

"Yeah, I know, I got her email yesterday telling me what she thought about my report. Said she never seen anything quite like it." Damien said.

"I'll bet she didn't. You're crazy, running into a dark forest and picking fights with some random ass thugs. Still, it was pretty cool. It took a lot of donphan sized balls doing something like that." Shane said.

"Those guys though, they really were something, weren't they? What exactly were those guys after you for anyway, Sakura? Can you tell us?" Damien asked Sakura, who was unsure how to answer that.

"No, I do not know." Sakura replied.

"There is something that I was hoping I could discuss with you regarding the matter though." Sakura said.

"What would that be?" Damien asked.

Sakura looked off to the side contemplatively.

"I wish to discuss this in private. Please, come." She requested.

Damien walked over to Sakura and followed her down the hall and to the rented bedroom.

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 **What do you think about Sakura going Dovahkiin on Amanda? I've noticed I only re-formatted and posted 5 chapters of this story so far since last night and it already has 100+ views and 3 faves and 5 followers. I've barely shown the real story at work and I'm already seeing progressive results. It has surpassed my expectations and I'm grateful for that. If you're following me, then you know who you are, thanks and I hope that you would stick around and enjoy what this story is developing into.**

 **Unrelated Note: I have not seen any of the Fast & Furious movies.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Faith

**Well, this post took a little longer than I planned for it to. You'll find out why at the end of the chapter.**

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 **Faith**

Sakura led Damien back to the room to discuss the events leading to the night he found her in privacy.

"It's okay, you don't need to tell me what happened if it's this much trouble for you, Sakura." Damien said.

"Please, it is important to me for you to know. You should understand my situation since you are the only one I am able to rely on as of now." Sakura said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Okay?" Damien said questionably.

"Please remain calm." Sakura said.

She closed her eyes and her horns began to glow bright blue and she began projecting her memories into Damien's head.

"Whoa." Damien said in surprise as his vision was being distorted.

* * *

(Sakura's story)

I was a small ralts living in an immense forest paradise far from here with my family. We lived happily together and I loved them so dearly. It has been that way always and no harm has come to us because my father was powerful and he would protect the entire forest from peril. For the first twelve winters of my life I have lived carefree. Only four winters ago I had underwent a transformation and my father has attempted to teach me to perform what you call "hyper voice" but I could never learn how to properly execute it. He told me he wished for me to learn so I could keep myself safe from something he fears he could not. I questioned him to what he refers to but all he would ever say to me is that he hopes we would never discover what it is, nor would I ever have need to fight.

Everything had changed when the forest was under siege by creatures used by humans to capture the other creatures of the forest. There were too many in number and they captured so many of my friends. Still, my father stood firm against them but he was not sure if he could succeed.

"Love, you must take our daughter and run far from here. I shall stand my ground, I will fight them off to my last breath if need be, but I cannot allow them take either of you." Father said to Mother.

"Be strong, Daughter. I love you both, now and forever. Now, leave this place!" That is what he said to us before my mother ran away with me in her arms.

We have been running through parts unknown to us until the sun fell below the horizon. We were worried for Father and the others. I questioned if it was best for us to leave them all behind. It was after all what Father had wanted. A shadow ball came from out of the trees and came for us. It struck the ground around us and knocked us down. The shadow ball came from two purple ghost creatures with menacing grins. They belonged to one of the bad humans, that I can be certain of. My mother fought them bravely but they were just as powerful together. She gave me her amulet and told me to run away from there and keep running no matter what I heard. So I did, just as we did with my father. Then I looked back and saw that they overpowered her, pinned her against the ground and I stopped.

"Mother!" I shouted, watching in horror.

She looked to me with a smile and a tear running down her face.

"I love you, Daughter! Leave this place and seek refuge somewhere safe, become strong, remember all I have taught you and retain your sense of compassion towards others! Above all else, we wish for you to live happily! Now go forth, my child!" she shouted to me as she was struggling to get them off of her.

I did not wish to leave my mother, she was all that I had left after all, but as she told me to, I ran on without looking back. I kept running until I was in pain and I continued to run. I will never forget those last words she had spoken to me.

When I finally ceased my running, I collapsed onto my hands and knees. Unable to comprehend what has happened, I wished to believe that all of this was but a dream and that I would awaken, where none of what transpired would be made reality. Afterall, it was not possible for my home to be taken while my father stood guard, not this quickly. Soon after, I knew there could be no denying what has happened. I did not have Father, I did not have Mother, my friends… my home has fallen and I could not return. All was lost to me on that night, save for my mother's amulet and my memories. All I could do at that moment was shed my tears of grief for them all. To be alone with no knowledge of what has happened to them, there is no greater sorrow.

I had found myself in a forest unlike anything of my own. It was dangerous and non-provident and its inhabitants were unfriendly. I had lived alone in that forest for days with no one to rely on. Nobody else in the forest cared to assist me. I was afraid, cold, hungry, lonesome, lost, and most of all, I was in agony and misery. I could not see past the uncertainty of what had become of my family. I was so weak and so hopeless. Despite what my mother had told me, I wished to surrender to the void, but I could not without first knowing what answers I sought. I had survived because I held on to what hope I had that one day I may see them again and rose.

I was then found and pursued after by the same humans you had saved me from. I did not understand why they wished to capture me so desperately. They destroyed so much of the forest as they were pursuing me. So much malice in their emotions… I was left nowhere to run or hide other than that structure on the cliff. I was afraid that my newly found purpose would have come to a swift end and I had almost lost all hope again. That was when you have come and rescued me, my hero.

* * *

(Ambrette Pokécenter)

The visions ceased.

"You poor thing. That's terrible. I had no idea you went through all of that. I'm so sorry, no one should have to go through any of that." Damien said before hugging Sakura.

"I will never forgive myself. I should not have left them, but I was too afraid to do anything else." Sakura said as she sobbed quietly.

"No, don't say that. Look at me." Damien said, pulling Sakura's face to his.

She tried to look at him but was unable to see past the tears.

"You did the right thing. They would have wanted you to stay safe no matter what. You were brave enough to keep on going even when it seemed hopeless. Tell you what, if I can see to it that you see them again then I will, that's a promise." Damien said to Sakura, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"You will?" Sakura asked, looking at Damien and feeling his compassion.

"Of course I will." Damien said, brushing her cheek and stood up.

"Shane has to get back to work soon. I'll show him out, go get some food from somewhere then we can spend the rest of the night together. Would you like that?" Damien asked.

"I would like that, Damien." Sakura simply said, touching her cheek.

* * *

Damien said goodbye to Shane before he left to go grab food from a local food establishment. He was hoping to find some place that serves food that is both pokémon and people friendly. While he was gone, Sakura was sitting on the bed, looking down at her amulet. The amulet was made of jade and was shaped like an eight-pointed star. The middle of it was embedded with a round stone that looked similar to a clear white marble with twists of green and pink inside it. It was threaded with a platinum wire that was beaded with teal pearls. Sakura looked at this amulet in thought.

"Could he truly help me in my search for my family? Is it fair for me to ask this of him after he has done so much for me already? He gave me his word that he would help me but he does not know of what he would come up against. Those creatures were terrifying and I wish not to see him in harm's way like… oh." Sakura thought to herself in worry.

Damien arrived about a half hour after he left carrying Styrofoam boxes of food. He knocked before he came back into the bedroom.

"Hey, Sakura. I'm back, and I brought some noodle soup. It's from a Japanese restaurant from around here. I don't know exactly what you can't eat yet but I do know that you should be safe with this stuff here." Damien said while handing Sakura a bowl of noodle soup and a plastic fork.

Damien was enjoying his meal using chopsticks while Sakura was still trying to figure out what to do with her fork. Damien slowly took the hand she was holding the fork with and showed her how to eat with it.

"You really don't know how to eat with a fork?" Damien asked.

"No, how could I?" Sakura asked back.

"Well… It's just that I thought your species could read minds so I just figured…" Damien said.

"Indeed, we could, but my mother told me that I should not. She told me that it is immoral and that it is dangerous. Even if we wished to, we could only view what the other's immediate thoughts are." Sakura explained.

"Well, it's at least nice of you to be respectful of others' privacy. I guess that means I'll just have to show you how to live in human society one step at a time then." Damien said with his mouth full and swallowed.

"So have you always had your colors?" Damien asked.

"My colors? I have been this color for as long as I remember. My mother is green, so I do not know how I came to appear this way." Sakura explained.

"Whatever the case might be, your pink and blue colors look marvelous on you, as does that amulet you're wearing." Damien said.

"Thank you, how kind of you to say that." Sakura said, lightly giggling at the comment.

"When you come with me on my j- our journey, would you want to participate in battles with me? You will become stronger." Damien said.

"I wish to fulfill my mother and my father's wishes for me in whatever way I possibly may. If that would serve to make it a reality, then it shall be my honor." Sakura said as she crossed her right arm over her chest and bowed.

Damien noticed the broth covering her face and chuckled as he wiped it off with a napkin, Sakura somewhat befuddled and pulling away as he did..

"You had broth on your face." Damien explained while laughing.

* * *

Damien threw away the boxes that previously housed their meals.

Sakura was lying down in the bed when she remembered the question she meant to ask Damien.

"Damien?" Sakura said.

"Yes, Sakura, how can I help you?" Damien asked.

"You would truly be willing to lend your time… just for me?" Sakura asked back.

"Of course I would. I'm a trainer and my pokémon always come first, that is if you want to be my pokémon. There is… just one more thing we would need to do. I don't think you're going to like it though." Damien said.

"Oh?" Sakura asked timidly, wondering what Damien was referring to.

Her question was soon answered when Damien pulled out the cherish ball Casey gave him out of his bag and showed it to her. Her eyes widened and she began to panic at the very sight of the ball.

"No! Please! Keep that accursed thing away!" Sakura screamed as she was kicking herself away from the cherish ball.

"I know how you must feel, but this is the only way you can be with me. I'll take you right out afterwards. You have nothing to worry about." Damien said softly.

That was not enough to assure Sakura her safety as she sat there against the headboard, shaking in fear. Damien needed to make a compromise just to convince her to do this.

"I'm going to make you a promise. I will never put you back inside unless it is for your safety if you would only let me do it just this once. So please do this so no one else can take you away." Damien pleaded.

Sakura slowly calmed down, understanding that Damien was doing this only out of her own personal safety.

"Do I have your word?" Sakura asked, still feeling the need to be cautious.

"You do." Damien replied.

Sakura sighed and hesitantly pressed the button on the cherish ball and allowed it to capture her in a ray of light that shined in all the colors of the rainbow and Sakura disappeared into the cherish ball. The ball shook in Damien's hands a few times before it made a click sound. Sakura was now officially Damien's pokémon and nobody else could take that away. Feeling accomplished, he pushed the button on the ball and the colorful beam shot back out, forming Sakura back into her natural material self. Sakura had her eyes closed and she shook off, opening her eyes and blinking them.

"That was not as bad as I thought it would be. Thank you for remaining true to your word, Damien." Sakura said as she hugged Damien, thankful that her first experience inside a pokéball was not too traumatic.

* * *

"We should get to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow. You'll be able to leave the pokécenter and I should get packed and ready to go home. It was cool of the station to lend me a gogoat to help carry me and my stuff back to Champhrier. I guess it's one of the benefits of being a 'hero'." Damien said to Sakura while getting into his night gear.

He noticed Sakura sitting at the edge of the bed looking at her amulet.

"Is there something on your mind, Sakura?" Damien asked.

"Oh, I wish that I knew how I could express my gratitude for what you have done for me thus far, and what you may do for me later on. It means more to me than you know." Sakura explained.

"I'm glad to help you out, Sakura. Every good trainer knows that their pokémon are the most important things in their lives and it makes me happy that you appreciate what I do. If you could just be the best partner you could be, that would be enough." Damien said to Sakura as they were tucking themselves into bed.

"That reminds me, I have a story about a bit of my life that I want you to know about. I should tell you about it sometime." Damien said as they were cuddling.

"Please, may you tell me now?" Sakura asked curiously.

"On second thought, it's not something I like to openly talk about. It would be easier for me to just show you. You can read my mind and see if you'd like, it's okay." Damien said.

"You are certain?" Sakura asked.

"I am." Damien replied.

Sakura reluctantly prepared herself to withhold the moral boundaries on which she was raised on. It was difficult for her to do even with her new friend's consent. She looked into Damien's memory of his charmander. From meeting to betrayal, having such a hostile partner by his side only to be ultimately shot down and stranded far from home was heartbreaking for Sakura to imagine. Sakura then saw Damien's memories of his ex-girlfriend Molly. The way she was to Damien in the beginning in their relationship and what a heartbreak she became to him later on. Sakura found what happened to him was abhorrent. Sakura stopped reading Damien's mind and gasped.

"I do not understand how you could even consider becoming one of these 'trainers' again after such an experience. I am sorry that they have done all of that to you." Sakura said to Damien, trying not to tear up.

"To be honest, I think it was for the best. None of this would have happened if it weren't for those incidents. I have a second chance thanks to you and Boomer. He's been accountable as a partner since he stuck around and you trust me enough to bring you back to your family. I have good faith that this decision is the best that I've ever made." Damien said confidently.

"I am happy that you believe so. May you rest easy, Damien." Sakura said, closing her eyes and snuggling Damien's arm before drifting off to sleep.

"Good night, Sakura." Damien said before he did the same.

* * *

Damien dreamed about the vision Sakura gave him the night he met her. It woke him up, realizing that the thing that he saw and wasn't so sure about what it was before from his vision looked a lot like Sakura's representation of her father.

It was a light-gray pokémon with slightly darker grey hair and eyes that were blue like Sakura's. It had twisted horns on top of its head. Most of its body was partially cladded in some form of spiky bronze and silver colored armor, leaving a few areas of its body exposed. Its exposed mid-section was slender. It stood on two hooved feet and stood enormously. The thing that stood out the most to him was the fire beaming out of its chest and the flames that formed around its body were made from the same fire. Damien figured that there must not many pokémon like it. It reminded him a lot of the legendary pokémon Reshiram from out of folktales, and it looked very powerful.

(Damien's POV)

Could it have been the same pokémon? What does this mean? Does this mean we'll see her father and she can be reunited? Am I really going to have a part in all of that? I have to be though. I was there, and I was sad for some reason. Why though? What's going to happen? When will it happen? If it means Sakura will be happy then I'll do what I can for her, no matter what it might be that this leads to.

 _But why?!_ Why was I so quick to say yes to this? What made me suddenly care so much that I'm willing to go so far for this pokémon who I just met? Did it have something to do with what happened in the cabin or is this really what I want? Am I just _that_ nice or did she do something to change me?

I looked over to Sakura, who was sound asleep and snuggling my arm tightly. I focus my eyes in wonderment as I gaze upon her peaceful, innocent face, hearing the soft sounds of the quiet breaths she takes in and lets out that all indicate how relieved she is to be in safe hands.

It's funny, but Sakura almost reminds me more of a person than she does a pokémon. She looks, walks, acts and even eats like a human, and I've hardly seen her do anything a pokémon would. It almost feels weird, wrong even that we're sharing a bed together.

B-but back to the topic at hand. This might seem cynical of me, but I couldn't help but imagine that she meant for this to happen, that she wanted me to feel this way. The way I put this might make it sound as if I think she's using me to find her family like I was nothing more than some convenient tool. I have been down that road enough times to know, but… I don't think that's the case at all here. The moment I held her in my arms, I felt her project something that made it clear to me how she felt. It made me feel warmth on that cold night, but if I could put it into words I would think that was her way of letting me know that she wanted me to be safe, or rather… wanted _us_ to be safe, because… _we're alike._

I turn my head away from Sakura and let out a guilty sigh. Arceus have mercy… I sincerely want to believe that what I just said was true, to believe without a doubt that _this was my choice_. However, it's perfectly clear to me that there's still so much more to this pokémon than I understand, even though she can apparently understand me so well. If I'm fortunate though, I'll have plenty of time to get to understand Sakura a little better and hopefully be able to understand what it was that made me act this way.

I didn't even bother to look at the time since I woke up. Not that I wanted to either. I closed my eyes and eventually was able to manage to clear my head of these thoughts and allow my consciousness to fade once again. Good night, world.

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 **Yup. I went and made myself a fake pokémon. Just a little something I conceptualized a while ago and thought maybe now was the time for it to shine. Now I know what a chore it is to detail and render digital art and let me tell you, either those guys on DArt are really dedicated or I'm just really stupid with Photoshop. Maybe you'd rather see what it looks like on screen than to try guessing what it looks like. Because I know I've been there. Just go to my profile on DeviantArt under the same name as my author name, go into my gallery and BAM! There it is. Now that that's out of the way I can continue on with the story.**

 **Totally Related Note: Sakura speaks in proper English. That means she will consistently be using vibrant vocabulary and will not use any contractions in her speech at all throughout the story.**


	7. Chapter 7 - Custody

**I guess I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to post chapters. After previously stating that I would try to post chapter 13 be the end of the weekend I am now only posting chapter 7. Sorry if some of you were expecting more to this point. I truly am eager to move forward with the story and I hope that this story would come to be quite pleasing to the reader in the end. Okay, I'm gonna make like a tree and get outta here now.**

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 **Custody**

Morning came and Damien was waking up. He slowly gained consciousness, seeing Sakura snuggled up to him again. He sat up and looked at the clock, seeing it was eleven in the morning. He was in shock because he got up later than he wanted to.

"Crap… damn alarm clock." Damien said to himself.

"Sakura, wake up." he said while nudging Sakura's shoulder, trying to be gentle.

"Uh?" Sakura moaned.

"What is it?" she asked as she came around.

"We need to check out, we overslept." Damien said, getting out of bed and putting his clothes on in a hurry.

Sakura stretched and lifted the sheets with her mind and floated out of bed, still half asleep and yawned. Damien spent about five minutes scurrying around trying to get his things together, and him needing to use a crutch was no help at all. Sakura was just by the door, watching him with eyes half open since she did not know how to help him in this situation. He had his laptop case packed, he still needed to pack his clothes and bathroom supplies.

"Um… may I be of any assistance? I could carry something for you if you would like." Sakura said, trying to be helpful.

"You don't need to do that for me, thank you for the offer though." Damien said.

"It would be my pleasure though." Sakura said insistently.

"You're a sweetheart. Here, you can hold this." Damien said while handing her his laptop case and strapping it onto her shoulder.

Damien finished packing the rest of his things and he and Sakura and Boomer came out of the room and to the main entryway.

Damien went up to the counter with his things. Casey was there talking with Kelly as they were both looking at Damien.

"Hey, I'm here for the release of my kirlia." Damien said to Kelly.

"Ah, yes. Just sign here and your kirlia will be free to leave." Kelly said, handing Damien a pen and clipboard with a release form attached to it.

Damien signed the release form and handed it back to Kelly.

"Thanks for staying with us. We hope to see you again." Kelly said while waving and smiling.

Damien waved back as he, Sakura and Boomer made their way out of the pokécenter. As they were walking, they heard the door open a few seconds after.

"Hey!" Someone shouted.

Damien turned his head to the sound. It was Casey coming out of the pokécenter.

"Casey, what is it?" Damien asked, wondering if he accidentally left something.

"I hope you enjoyed your time in Ambrette town, Damien. It's been a pleasure having you around." Casey said.

She walked up to him and looked back, and then she reached for his face and gave him a small kiss on the lips.

"Come see me when you're around again." Casey said to Damien, letting go of his face and winked at him.

Damien said nothing, he just blushed and watched her strut back inside. He and Boomer were then alerted to the sound of a crash. He looked over to see that the pokécenter sign had a hole punched through it by an airborne rock coming from Sakura's direction. She had been focused on the sign with an agitated expression on her face. Damien's mind tried to process what happened to that poor sign.

"What was that all about?" he asked Sakura.

"I… I thought that I saw a ghost." Sakura said alertly.

Damien accepted Sakura's answer and he and his pokémon headed through town to the police station.

* * *

(Ambrette Town)

Damien and Sakura walked a short distance over to the station where they met up with the police officers and their gogoat. Boomer hopped on top of the gogoat's head. Sakura gave Damien the laptop case and he hung his things on the gogoat's saddle. Sakura raised her arms and Damien hoisted her up onto the saddle. Damien and the police thanked each other once more before he got on and left . He stopped at the hotel to visit Shane before he left for home. Damien thanked Shane for all he has done for him while he was in Ambrette town. With that he and his pokémon left town on the gogoat and headed for Champhrier.

* * *

(Route 7)

"I really liked Ambrette Town, I hope we can go back there sometime." Damien said to his pokémon.

"There wasn't anything you wanted to do while we were still there, was there, Sakura?" Damien asked Sakura, stroking her hair gently.

"No, I only wished to leave that place." Sakura said, transmitting thoughts of her traumatic experience in the forest into Damien's head.

"I am rather eager to meet your family though." she said while smiling at Damien, trying to sound confident.

"I'm sure they'll be more than eager to meet you too, Sakura. You're going to love Champhrier." Damien said.

Sakura laid back in Damien's arms and they talked and relaxed the whole ride back.

* * *

(Champhrier Town)

The whole group finally arrived at Champhrier town while the sky was still blue. Damien's parents were waiting just outside their house for him. Damien hopped off of the gogoat and his parents walked over to him.

"Damien honey, we missed you." Rose said, obnoxiously grabbing Damien by the face.

"Mom, I was gone for like… three or four days." Damien said, trying to pull his face away.

Rose looks down to see the stitches laced in his leg.

"Damien, what did you do?!" Rose asked in a surprised tone.

"Uh…" Damien said.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you go off on this trip. I knew it, I did nothing about it and now you're hurt." Rose said.

She swatted Boomer on the head with a rolled up newspaper.

"You should have taken better care of him." Rose grunted to Boomer.

"Mom, it's really no big deal, I'll be fine." Damien said, getting onto his crutch.

"Don't you have something to say about this, Jerome?" Rose asked Jerome.

"Hey, things like this will happen from time to time. It's all a part of growing up." Jerome said understandingly.

"Thank you, Dad." Damien said.

"Jerome!" Rose shouted, upset to not have support from him.

"Hi, there's someone I want you to meet." Damien chimed, gently nudging Sakura in front of him.

Sakura was nervous and tried to turn her face away from Damien's parents.

"Come on, Sakura, say hi." Damien said.

"I cannot do it." Sakura said, hiding behind Damien.

"Dear, can I see you in the house for a second?" Rose asked Jerome.

"Sure thing, darling. What is it?" Jerome replied.

Rose pulls him through the front door by the sleeve his shirt.

"He's seriously going to do it again." Rose whispered loudly to Jerome as if Damien was not even there.

"Damien?" Sakura said to Damien, looking away.

"What is it, Sakura?" Damien asked her.

"I wanted to greet myself but your mother was so frightening. I am uncertain of how they would think of me. What if they do not like me?" Sakura said, looking at Damien with forlorn eyes.

"It's not like that, you just need some time to get to know each other, that's all. Everyone will warm up to each other, I promise." Damien says, stroking Sakura's hair.

* * *

(Damien's House)

Damien and his pokémon went into the house to hear his parents arguing.

"It's not like you can't expect something like that to ever happen." Jerome said.

"Yeah, but you would think this is the worst that could happen. It's a small cut now but next time, it could be something much worse. Our son was given a chance of living a safe, stable life in the future and you think I should let him throw that away over some dumb pets?!" Rose shouted in frustration.

"Having pokémon with him doesn't change anything, Rose, and you can disagree with that all you like, but it's not either of our choice, it's his and his alone. He's old enough to make his own decisions now and you know he's smart enough to make the right calls." Jerome said solidly.

"Did you forget what happened to Nicole twenty years ago? Do you remember how like Damien she was? I don't want that kind of thing to happen to Damien, too. I don't know for the life of me how I could live through that kind of suffering if that ever happened to him. I know that was him Alexa was talking about on the news and he could've wound up like one of those officers. So please, for everyone's own good, tell him he has to stop." Rose said while sobbing.

Sakura took this discussion deeply to heart.

Rose walks up the stairs and Jerome sighs as Damien enters.

"Oh. Hey, champ. How much of that did you hear?" Jerome asked Damien.

"Enough." Damien answered simply.

"You know your mother is only thinking of your safety. After Nikki passed, she swore she would keep you from winding up the way she did any way she could. You and I are her world, Damien." Jerome said.

"I know." Damien said understandingly.

He went upstairs to go and find Rose and Sakura followed closely behind.

* * *

Rose was in the upstairs hallway trying to calm herself down and thinking of how she reacted. Damien meets her at the top of the stairs.

"Hey Mom, I'm sorry for what happened back in Ambrette town. It was reckless and I should've known better, so if you think I should stop battling then I won't argue with you against it." Damien said to his mother.

Rose sighed.

"Honey, maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh about this. It's just that you and your father are the most important things to me. You didn't even get to know Nicole, she was a role model to a lot of people and a good trainer. Oh, you could've learned so much from her." Rose said.

"Like how to not go out looking for trouble?" Damien asked.

Rose chuckled.

"I did what I did only to save Boomer. You know I'm usually much smarter than to do something like that without a good reason to in the first place, but that's no excuse. Like I said, if you want me to stop, just say the word." Damien said.

"You know, since it's not much of a better alternative, I decided I shouldn't keep you from having the freedom to do what you want in life, so you can continue your training." Rose said reluctantly.

"What?" Damien asked.

"But you have to promise me to never pull a stunt like that ever again." Rose said sternly.

"I promise. Thanks, Mom." Damien said before the two hugged.

Sakura smiled at the sight.

Damien noticed Sakura standing at end of the hallway and smiled.

"Come on in, Sakura, it's okay now." Damien said.

Sakura walked slowly to him nervously.

"Mom, this is my new pokémon. She is a kirlia and her name is Sakura." Damien said.

"Oh my, what a darling you are. Aren't you just adorable." Rose said, mewling over Sakura's cuteness.

Sakura turned her head away, blushing and smiling to the compliment.

"She said that you are too kind." Damien said to Rose.

"I didn't hear her say anything." Rose said.

"It's telepathy, I guess she can only communicate with people she really trusts." Damien said, smiling at Sakura.

"Oh." Rose said.

"She wants to say hi to you, Mom." Damien said.

Sakura walked up to Rose and did a courtesy before her.

"Aw, you're just precious." Rose said as Damien lifted Sakura into the air and held her over his shoulders.

"I'm not mad at him or you, I just wish he would stop being such a dummy sometimes." Rose said calmly.

"Hey…" Damien griped in response to being subject to Rose's joke.

Sakura giggled.

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 **Dawww... aren't the parents in the pokémon world just plain awful?**

 **Note to self: Writing dialogue for parents is painfully awkward AF.**

 **The next chapter entitled Warming Up explains something crucial to the plot so read up on that one please, it's really short and it'll only take a few minutes.**

 **I found another one of _these_ stories on the net that I'm enjoying. It's called  A Human and his Gardevoir: Reloaded written by AVP5. I won't go into full detail as to why I find it enjoyable. It's not quite like Saviour but it's still quite something and it is still being worked on so that's a good sign. I'm out of relevant things to say now so here's this.**

 **Unrelated Note: The world's tallest man-made structure in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai standing at 2,717 feet tall and being 163 stories tall.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Warming Up

**This chapter seemed a bit on the short side to be posted on its own so I decided to post it along with Chapter 9. None the less this one does describe something essential to the rest of the story from here on out so if there are chapters that should be read this is definitely one of them.**

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 **Warming Up**

Damien agreed to stay in town with his parents while his leg was healing. He brought his pokémon and his parents closer together, including his mother who was originally against the idea of Damien raising pokémon in the first place. He even managed to convince Sakura that Rose and Jerome were trustworthy enough to hear her telepathic speech. Sakura was becoming very adapted to human society during that time period. With Damien's help she was capable of being both pokémon and person. Together they learned to transmit thoughts in order for Damien to hear what other pokémon are saying. Damien trained her to do battle with the help of Boomer out in a field and taught her to show interest in human activities out in public at the same time. He even bought her ribbons for her hair. Sakura becoming more like a person made Damien question just how not human this pokémon was more with each passing day, especially when they would continue to sleep in the same bed.

* * *

 **(One Month Later)**

As the days passed Damien's leg was healed to the point where he no longer needed to walk with a crutch anymore. It made him happy, which also made Sakura so happy that she would dance since she has never seen him walk so well since the night they first met. Damien was at last able to continue on his journey with his pokémon. Damien's family was entirely accepting of him leaving town whenever he chose. He thought he would stick around in Champhrier just a little longer anyways. Sakura had become well-adjusted to Damien's hometown and considered it to be a close second to the environment she once called home. She felt safe with his family similar to the way she feels safe around Damien, which in turn reduced some of the anxiety she felt for her own family albeit a small amount. With all the training Damien did with Sakura she still fell short with one particular area. Sakura wanted to learn how to use hyper voice properly despite her own fear of the painful memories taking over her.

* * *

(Champhrier Field)

Damien decided to train her in a field a short distance from Champhrier town near Route 5 where they would not disturb anyone else. He brought a few pairs of ear muffs for him, Sakura and Boomer. Damien set up five substitute dolls for her to blast away and waited for her go. Sakura took a deep breath and was ready to unleash hyper voice, but right before she could she began to dwell on her past. She saw herself with her father doing a similar training exercise. The sadness overtook Sakura and she began to cry while launching her hyper voice simultaneously. The combination resulted in flurry of uncontrollable bursts of sound in random directions. Three targets were hit, two dolls and one Damien, knocking him away as well. Sakura clasped her hands over her mouth regretfully and ran to him.

"Oh no, I am terribly sorry for this, Damien." Sakura said, holding onto Damien.

"Don't worry, I'm not hurt. Now how's about we set those other dolls back up and try again?" Damien said, sitting up and comforting the distraught Sakura.

"I do not want to do this anymore!" Sakura shouted, burying her face into Damien's chest.

"Pfft… fairies." Boomer scoffed while rolling his eyes.

Damien smacked Boomer on the back of his head.

"Ow, sorry… sheesh, take a joke." Boomer said while rubbing his head.

"Well alright, let me just go grab the dolls and we can head back home." Damien said.

* * *

"Hey, what in the hell is going on out here!" an angry voice came out from the grass.

The pokémon coming out of the grass was an umbreon. It stood and looked Damien in the face for a moment observing closely.

"Oh hey, look who it is, I never thought I'd sees you again." the umbreon said.

"Have we met before?" Damien asked.

"So now you understands me? Well it's about time. What, you really don't remembers me?" Umbreon asked.

Damien shook his head sideways. "Well maybe this oughta' jog your memory a bit then." Umbreon said as he lunged back and pounced on him.

Damien was getting mauled by the umbreon and began shouting.

"Damien… No!" Sakura shouted as she and Boomer rushed over in retaliation only to realize Damien was not in any actual danger.

Umbreon was nibbling roughly at Damien's nose and Damien was laughing.

"Eevee, is that you? It's been so long, how have you been pal?" Damien asked, overjoyed.

"Don't call me that." Umbreon grunted.

"Daddy, where'd you go?!" another voice shouted from within the grass.

A young eevee popped out in excitement and began energetically running around.

"What happened? What was it? did you get it?!" the eevee sputtered.

A glaceon walked out afterwards.

"Sweetie, calm down." the glaceon said to the eevee.

"Hey, squirt, this is the human I told you about. My old trainer." Umbreon said.

"Hi, my daddy told me lots about you. Hey, hey, why did you let him go? Did he bite your tail or something?" Eevee asked Damien, jumping against his legs.

"Is this your family? You have a family?" Damien asked Umbreon while petting the eevee.

"I had to find someone to keep me company out here since you left me stranded way over theres. Sandshrew figured he was set when we crossed the badlands. I tried to convince him to come along but he made up his mind and I haven't seen him since that day. I got into a real rough patch afterwards but it was easier foe me after I evolved, still my time out here was pretty rough though. Luckily for me I bumped into my darling here one day and we sort of just became a part of each other's lives and had a family, you know? So even though I was crushed that day you lets me go, I guess you can say things worked for the better." Umbreon said cuddling up to Glaceon.

"I'm glad to hear that. Sorry I did that to you." Damien said.

"Don't be, I'm better off now than I would've been stuck with youse. C'mon squirt, we're outta here." Umbreon said to the eevee.

"Come on honey, it's almost dinner time." Glaceon said to Eevee.

Eevee was already playing with Sakura and Boomer at that time, having too much fun to even hear what his parents were saying.

"Quit messing around and get over here, now!" Umbreon began to shout.

"Daddy, I want to play with new friends!" Eevee began to pout.

"Boy, I'm not gonna tells you again. Get the hell over here before I drag you home myself!" Umbreon shouted angrily.

The eevee began to whimper and walk towards Glaceon with his ears and tail drooping. Glaceon began to freeze the ground around her.

"You… do not… talk to our child like that. How many times do I need to tell you?! You need to leave until you get a hold of your attitude!" Glaceon said, outraged.

Umbreon backed off and turned back to the forest. He slowly walked his way back home and he turned his head back to face everyone.

"Guess youse wants to find out the hard way then." Umbreon said before he disappeared into the woods.

"I'm so sorry about that. He can be really impatient sometimes." Glaceon said to Damien comforting Eevee.

"This whole time, I had no idea he would take this the way he did, all because of something I thought was best for them. I didn't think that my pokémon could have been happy while I had them, not after the way Charmander treated me. I shouldn't have shut him away the way I did though. Maybe I was a bad trainer then and maybe I deserve that kind of attitude from him, but there's no reason why Eevee… er… Umbreon should take it out on everyone else though, especially his own family." Damien said.

Sakura felt sorry to hear this from Damien.

"Thank you, but that's really not what's bothering him. Things have just been tense for us lately. You see, we're actually expecting another child sometime soon, and since food is becoming harder to come by out here, we hardly have enough to keep the family fed as it is. Our boy here always wanted to travel and that would help a bit but we can't let him off on his own, and we can't leave since we need to tend to the egg and everything. Umby's worried what the boy might think if he saw a human, that maybe he would want to travel with them. That might not have bothered him so much, except he'd be worried that they would do the same with our child as Umby said you did to him." Glaceon said.

"Hah! Umby. That's hilarious." Boomer said with a laugh.

Everyone else was looking his way without expression.

"What? It is." Boomer said.

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 **Because of Sakura's telepathy acting as a two-way communication system between people and pokémon, Damien is now able to verbally communicate with any** **pokémon so long as Sakura is present with him and she can understand them herself. I swear I can believe more people would have already thought of this idea for their stories since I can't see any reason why it shouldn't work under ordinary circumstances, at least as far as I know. Either way, it's happening.**

 **Heads up, don't expect a whole lot to happen for the next few chapters. I had my reasons for making them what they are and though they aren't completely pointless, they don't serve the plot or development all that much. Chapter 12 is where things start becoming relevant again, so you can skip to there if you would like. Hopefully things won't be too confusing, should you decide to.**

 **Unrelated Note: Playing the violin burns 170 calories per hour.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Cooling Down

**I'm going to go on record and say when I said in a previous chapter that I was going to make my own cover image for the story, I wasn't kidding around. So I'm working on that as well as the story. I already hand drawn and scanned it and now I'm in the process of digitally re-outlining it for more precise, consistent line weights. Have you tried to draw curved lines on Photoshop? It's about as easy as dealing with hangnails. Just letting you all know that's what's happening right now.**

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 **Cooling Down**

(Champhrier Forest)

Back in the forest Umbreon was circling around his nest thinking to himself about the way he acted. He looked over to Glaceon's egg and lied down and sighed. Glaceon and Eevee walk into the nest. Umbreon got up and ran over to them.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry bout all that back there. I shouldn't have yelled back there you know, can you forgives me, little buddy?" Umbreon said to Eevee.

"Sorry, babe." he said to Glaceon.

"It's alright, Daddy." Eevee said.

"You know, the human is actually very nice. He told me that out of all his older pokémon, you were probably the easiest to be around." Glaceon said.

"Yeah, we had a few good times, I guess. I didn't like the way that charmander got on him. It can really mess everyone up, you know? At least I turned things around for myself, looks like he's kinda doing the same now." Umbreon said.

Glaceon and Eevee looked on him with a smile.

"I'd like it if we can discuss more of this with the human." Glaceon said.

Umbreon glanced over at the egg, deciding what would be best.

"Uh… I guess it won't hurt to has a little talk with the guy. It's just a talk though, so don't expects nothin from me." Umbreon said.

* * *

(Champhrier Field)

Damien and pokémon had packed their things in a bag and began walking back home, Damien still visibly sullen for his old friend. Sakura and Boomer felt sympathy for him.

"Wait, hold up!" Umbreon said, running to Damien with his family not too far behind.

Sakura and Boomer stood between them.

"What do you want now?" Boomer asked.

"Have you not already done enough harm?" Sakura followed.

"No… no… I gets it, I was a real tool back there, but there's something I want to say. I'm sorry I was being so ridiculous before." Umbreon said reluctantly, facing the ground as he spoke.

"And…" Glaceon said to Umbreon.

"No! It's not going to happen, not with him." Umbreon said defiantly.

"I know what this kid's been through but there's no way I can trust him with our boy after what he did with me." Umbreon said.

"He would not repeat the same action, I can assure you of that." Sakura chimed in.

"Who gave you permission to talk?!" Umbreon shouted, standing up to Sakura.

Glaceon advanced towards Umbreon trying not to lose her temper again.

"It will work, just trust in somebody else for a change." Glaceon said, trying to keep calm.

Umbreon looked to Eevee then.

"Squirt, what do you says to all of this?" Umbreon asked Eevee.

"I trust them, Daddy!" Eevee replied, happily wagging his tail.

Umbreon looked back up to Glaceon and nodded, she nodded back.

"So you're not gonna go and gives up and leave my boy, right?" Umbreon asked Damien.

"No, none of that, I promise." Damien said.

"Alright, it's settled then. You can travel with the human… if he beats me and your mother in a battle." Umbreon said to Eevee.

"What?" Glaceon spurted out.

* * *

Umbreon and Glaceon stood side by side.

"Umby, why are you doing this?" Glaceon asked Umbreon.

"You wants to be sure our boy can be safe, don't you? We should be sure he's with someone who can protect him better than we can, you know what I'm sayin?" Umbreon replied.

"Hmm… alright, fair point." Glaceon admitted.

"And stop calling me Umby. You know I don't likes that nickname." Umbreon pointed out.

Glaceon giggled.

"So what's it gonna be, those two with you there?" Umbreon asked, suggesting Sakura and Boomer to battle.

"Are you two up for it?" Damien asked them.

"I await your command." Sakura said.

"Let's do this thing." Boomer said.

They both stood ready for battle.

"I'll starts us off." Umbreon said before using feint attack and charging up towards Sakura.

"Okay then, Boomer, use tailwind!" Damien shouted.

Boomer used tailwind and a breeze blew in behind him and Sakura making them more nimble.

"Sakura, use reflect!" Damien shouted.

Sakura created a shining barrier of light in front of her to protect her from the incoming attack. Umbreon continued to run up to Sakura and disappeared as he reached it.

"Huh?" Sakura muttered, wondering what was happening.

She looked around her surroundings for Umbreon.

"Where has he gone?" Sakura asked herself as she continued searching for Umbreon's whereabouts.

He reappeared above her and fell towards her.

"Sakura, above you!" Damien shouted.

Sakura looked above her self and saw Umbreon about to pounce on her. She then moved the reflect barrier over her to repel the attack. Umbreon struck the barrier and jumped off of it and back, causing the barrier to push back and Sakura to fall on her back.

"Boomer, razor wind!" Damien shouted.

Boomer's wings glowed white and stretched back before he launched blasts of white sickle-shaped air blades strong enough to knock Umbreon back a bit as he landed.

"Looks like I'm going to have some fun here after all." Umbreon said with a chuckle.

Glaceon used an ice beam directed at Boomer and hit him on the tip of his right wing and froze it in ice. Boomer fell to the ground, unable to move.

"Damn it!" Boomer shouted in pain.

Umbreon saw his opportunity to strike and launched a shadow ball towards Boomer.

"Sakura, use psychic to use the ice as a shield!" Damien told Sakura.

Sakura used psychic to move the ice on Boomer's wing in the air and in the shadow ball's path. The shadow ball collided with the ice and shattered it, making a mist effect around Boomer and covering him. Glaceon used ice beam on Boomer when the mist dissipated but it phased through and obliterated. Damien had told Boomer to use double team and Boomer used that projection as a front. Glaceon realized this and noticed Boomer's projections scattered around the field, laughing at her. She looked around to see if she could tell which one was real. She then felt tapping on her back and turned around to see Boomer right behind her.

"Now use hurricane!" Damien shouted.

Boomer used hurricane in close range and immediately engulfed Glaceon in an intense turbulence of air followed by a blast that blew her across the field making a crater of dirt where she stopped. Glaceon accepted defeat, shook off the dirt and dropped out of the battle.

"You little punk!" Umbreon shouted to Boomer.

Umbreon used take down to ram Boomer in the gut with full force, taking him out in an instant. The battle was down to Sakura and Umbreon. The tailwind from Boomer that surrounded Sakura faded and she relied on her own speed to win the match.

"Alright, Sakura, we can still do this. Use magical leaf on him." Damien said.

Sakura summoned glowing green leaves out of thin air and directed them towards Umbreon at high velocity. Umbreon leaped to the side trying to avoid them but they came back around and hit him anyways. Umbreon braced for each impact and endured them all to an extent, in spite of the accumulated damage. Umbreon was getting angry, he began charging for a powerful shadow ball. During this time Sakura was having a telepathic discussion with Damien.

"This doesn't look very good, you know. Maybe we should just give in, Sakura." Damien said.

"No, we may still prevail. We must… I wish to try it again. I wish to try hyper voice again." Sakura said.

"Are you sure? This isn't your normal training exercise anymore." Damien said.

"Yes, I understand that, and I believe that I am truly prepared this time." Sakura strongly replied.

Damien nodded and Sakura nodded back.

"Use hyper voice, Sakura!" Damien shouted.

Sakura took in a deep breath and concentrated, thinking only of Damien and the happiness and faith he brought to her. Damien and Boomer braced themselves and covered their ears. Glaceon and Eevee did the same. Sakura let loose a melodic scream and flawlessly performed her hyper voice for the second time. Umbreon not only lost his focus, but lost his composure all together. He was lifted off the ground and flew back and hit a tree hard enough to knock the leaves off of it. Umbreon was rendered incapacitated. Sakura stood to realize what she had accomplished.

"I… I did it. I did it!" Sakura cheered, jumping with joy.

She ran to Damien and Boomer and hugged them both in celebration.

"Hold on just a sec…" Umbreon said.

Everyone looked at him and saw him weakly standing up with a vindictive look in his eyes. He was standing up purely out of vengeful pride. He would do what it takes to not lose to Damien and it was visibly apparent.

"Oh, please don't." Glaceon groaned.

Umbreon's skin sparkled as he looked to the sky. The moon appeared and shined down on Umbreon, instantly healing him. He was feeling better and back on his feet.

"Wow." Damien said in amazement.

"What can I say? I'm stronger cause of you." Umbreon said to Damien.

"This battle ain't over though, now come back over here." he said to Sakura with a devilish grin.

Sakura walked back to the field, feeling uneasy.

"Why must you keep this up?" Glaceon asked Umbreon irritably.

"Why must you put so much faith in a human who can't win a battle? He was a terrible trainer then and he's a terrible trainer now." Umbreon replied.

This statement hit Damien where it hurt most. Even when he tried to hide it, it was obvious. Every other pokémon looked on Umbreon unsatisfyingly, not that he was much happier though. He charged up for another shadow ball.

"There's leaves scattered all over the place!" Boomer told Sakura.

"Ah hah. Damien?" Sakura asked Damien, counting on him to make the right decision.

"Uh… Sakura, use psychic to form a wall with those leaves!" Damien shouted, hoping that would work.

Sakura lifted all the leaves surrounding her with her mind. Umbreon launched a shadow ball and as it was hurdling towards Sakura, she constituted a wall with the leaves she gathered and packed them tightly. With the combined density of the leaves and Sakura's psychokinetic power, the artificial barrier was enough to hold the shadow ball back. Sakura was fighting to keep it back and her endeavor prevailed. The shadow ball exploded and leaves and hazy dust scattered in the air, making it difficult to see. The first thing Sakura saw after that was Umbreon's shadow charging towards her.

"Sakura, use reflect again!" Damien shouted to Sakura.

She set up another shining reflecting barrier in hopes to reduce whatever physical damage comes afterwards. Then, in an instant, Umbreon used feint attack and rammed the reflect barrier head on. Umbreon's side collided with the barrier and knocked it back, causing it to hit Sakura in the forehead. Sakura flew back and landed with a thud at Damien's feet. Damien panicked, crouching over her and lifting her up in his arms.

"Sakura, wake up! Sakura!" Damien shouted.

She was knocked out of consciousness and the battle has ended, dramatically.

* * *

Damien immediately ran for the Champhrier pokécenter with the unconscious Sakura in his arms, leaving his training equipment behind. Boomer followed suit shortly after and caught up with him as he ran. After Damien's party was out of sight, Umbreon went back on over to see his family who were appalled at what they witnessed.

"Well, aren't you gonna says something?" He asked Glaceon unapologetically.

"Honey, you better go back home." Glaceon said to Eevee.

Eevee headed back without a second thought.

"I can't believe you sometimes, you know that?!" Glaceon shouted, freezing the ground around her.

"Hey, youse knew the deal, the human loses and the kid can't go with thems." Umbreon said sternly.

"Don't give me that, we all know why you did what you did. We need this, Umbreon. Why can't you just accept that the human is the best thing for our child? You said it yourself, he made you strong. Why else do you think you're as powerful as you are now?" Glaceon asked angrily.

"Let's clear things up right here, right now. He trapped me against my will, dragged me around those disgusting towns of his and then abandoned me when I needed him. He didn't train me, I trained me, and I survived with no one else to help me at that. Then he comes along how many years later only to show me no sign of improvement whatsoever, so as far as I'm concerned all he's ever going to be is a pathetic failure! Is that what you wants for our kid?!" Umbreon exclaimed in frustration.

Umbreon felt a chill at his feet and looked down. Glaceon was freezing his legs to the ground rendering him completely unable to move from that spot. He began to panic and struggle.

"The only one who was made a failure was me by you! You aren't the same lost young dark type I fell for. You've changed." Glaceon said, beginning to cry.

"We're eevee-liners, change is what we's best at!" Umbreon shouted, still struggling to get his legs free.

"You used to be reasonable, grateful, someone I could live with without ever imagining it would come to this. Now I don't even know if I can look you in the eyes and believe we can ever be that way again anymore. Change doesn't excuse that, and neither does your past experience. Do you know why I really wanted our child to go with the human? It's because I would rather our children were raised by a weaker trainer than by a monster." Glaceon said, sobbing.

Umbreon jerked his head at the statement as he could not believe what he heard.

"We're done." Glaceon said, heading back to the nest, leaving Umbreon frozen out in the field as night was approaching.

"Hey! No! You get me out of this now, you bitch!" Umbreon shouted, furiously flailing around.

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 **I think I'm just going to post chapters 10 - 13 all at once when they're all proofread and the text was reformatted and I can think of enough information both related and unrelated to slap on the headers and footers of each page.**

 **Unrelated Note: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a lung disease caused by inhaling fine ash and is also the longest word in the english dictionary, containing 45 letters.**


	10. Chapter 10 - Frost Bite

**Update: My stupid calculus final is on the 6th of August, so whether I pass or fail the class, it will be over. I'm looking forward to that so I can finally enjoy my summer as a guy in his prime should without having to look at integrals and derivatives and being forced to listen to his pessimist of an instructor yell about _"how dumb all my students are"_ and such, rather than utilize that time to do his job and teach, dammit! Just saying. **

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 **Frost Bite**

Umbreon had been struggling to get free from Glaceon's ice for what felt like forever to him with no fruition. He came to terms, knowing it was useless and he had to wait throughout the night for the ice to thaw. He put in some time to think about what Glaceon said. She put up with him for the last time and he knew it, he had to change for better, not worse. He saw his reflection in the ice and did not like what he saw. He felt he had become the charmander he had grown to despise.

"I'm… this ain't what I wanted." Umbreon told himself.

He looked to the sky and at the moon.

"Glaceon, squirt, Damien, I'm sorry. I need youse to knows that…" he said with a glint coming from his eye.

"I… will… change!" Umbreon shouted, bursting free from the ice.

He shook off the cold and the warmth of the summer night rushed in on him. It stung all over his body, except for his paws, which he could not feel where they touched the ground. He saw a glint over towards the edge of the field. He walked over towards where it came from and found ice in the shape of a tear. It was cold to the touch. Umbreon figured where it had come from. He picked up some of the scattered leaves from the earlier battle and wrapped them around the tear and brought it back to his nest. He arrived, only to find that they were not there. The leaf wrapped ice tear fell from his mouth upon realizing they had been gone while Umbreon was encased in ice.

* * *

(Champhrier Town)

Damien went over to the pokécenter at eight in the morning to check Sakura out and take her home. As he was walking out with the resting Sakura in his arms, he rubbed her head feeling grateful that he at least had her approval. Sakura began to wake up finding herself being carried by Damien, who had a depressed look on his face. He had not noticed her wake up so she carefully observed his expressions and inner emotions. She reached for his face and stroked down his cheek, causing him to look to her.

"I know you… will never forsake us." Sakura said with breaks in her speech.

Damien smiled at her.

"Ah, my… head still aches." Sakura said, clutching down on her head.

"You've experienced some head trauma, Sakura. You're going to need to rest a little longer." Damien said moving his hand away from her head.

"Will… I recover from this anytime soon?" Sakura asked.

"Of course you will. You're gonna be good as new before you even know it." Damien said.

Sakura went back to sleep, her hand sliding down Damien's arm until it met his hand. Damien was caught by surprise and quickly jumped at the sudden touch. He smiled and tucked it back under her arm.

* * *

(Damien's House)

Damien came home and tucked Sakura in his bed. Boomer was hanging on the curtain rod of the window that hung over the bed, asleep as well. He went out to the café to grab a cup of coffee just as he would every other morning. He sat at the table, thinking of what went down the night before. He remembered…

"My bag is still out in the field." Damien thought to himself, recalling leaving the bag after he took off for the pokécenter.

"I need to go get it." Damien thought to himself while sipping the coffee. He finished his cup and walked out, heading over to the field.

* * *

(Champhrier Field)

Damien arrived to the field to see Umbreon tugging his bag across the field by one of the straps. This made Damien enraged.

"Hey! Get away from that!" Damien shouted at Umbreon, walking briskly towards the bag.

Umbreon jumped from the surprise before he realized who it was.

"Damien? Hey! hey!" Umbreon said, running away from the bag and into Damien's path.

"Look, I had time to myself last night and I realized I was wrong. I rubbed everyone the wrong way and I'm sorry for everything." Umbreon said.

"What do you want? Can't you see I've had enough of you? You hurt me, you hurt my friends, and you hurt your own family. Sakura's head is injured because of what you did." Damien said.

"Ah jeez, he can't hears what I'm saying no mores." Umbreon thought to himself.

Damien could not understand Umbreon's speech since he did not have Sakura around to translate another pokémon's words.

"C'mon, I'm sorry. I need help. My family went missing!" Umbreon panicked, trying to gesture to the woods and give Damien a hint to what he was talking about.

"Knock it off and get away from me. I'm trying to get my things and then you'll never have to worry about me again." Damien said.

"Damien, please?" Umbreon said, stepping towards Damien.

"No!" Damien shouted just before he shoved Umbreon into the ground and bounced back.

Umbreon got back up and looked back up at Damien.

"I'm finished with you. I was patient and now I'm just finished with you. Just go home and never bother me again." Damien said to Umbreon, staring him down fiercely.

Umbreon looked at Damien trying not to break and then faced away and ran. After Umbreon was out of sight, Damien immediately felt ashamed to lose control the way he did. He picked up his bag and walked straight back to his house.

* * *

(Damien's House)

Damien came back to the house with his bag, feeling exhausted. He walked through the front door and went upstairs to his room to check on his pokémon. Sakura was still sleeping but was waking up at the same time. Boomer was sitting at the foot of the bed watching TV. Boomer chirped as Damien walked into the room.

"How's everything, bud?" Damien asked Boomer.

Boomer noticed the bag Damien was carrying and how strained his face was.

"I'm fine, I… could ask you the… same." Boomer said, Sakura's telepathy fading in and out.

"What, me? I've never been better." Damien timidly said.

Boomer took the answer and looked back at the television as he felt prying any further would be pointless. Damien plopped in bed next to Sakura and watched the show with Boomer, they were watching a cooking show that Boomer seemed to enjoy. Sakura started to wake up.

"Damien?" Sakura said weakly.

"Oh, Sakura, you're up. How are you feeling now?" Damien asked.

"I am feeling better now, I… ahn. I will… be well, I believe." Sakura said confidently, still having trouble communicating thoughts.

"Something is troubling you?" She asked.

"No, everything's fine. Why do you ask?" Damien asked Sakura unconvincingly.

"I ask because you… seem guilty." Sakura answered.

Damien sighed knowing he could not conceal the truth.

"I ran into Umbreon earlier, he was trying to steal the training equipment. I sort of went primeape on him." Damien said truthfully.

"Why would… he do such a thing?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, but he was barking at my face when I was trying to get it back." Damien said.

"Was he trying… ah… to say something to you?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know." Damien said.

"I think that I should see… for myself, may I?" Sakura asked.

"If you really want to hear what he had to say." Damien said hesitantly.

Damien closed his eyes. Sakura saw Umbreon trying to talk with Damien and Damien throwing him to the ground.

"Umbreon, he… he was trying to apologize to you, Damien!" Sakura sharply shouted, fully waking up and recovering from her head trauma.

"Umbreon what?!" Damien asked loudly.

Boomer chirped and turned his head to the conversation.

"Here, observe." Sakura said.

She re-transmitted Damien's memory to him making it possible for him to understand what Umbreon said.

"That's what he was trying to say to me? I didn't know, I thought he was just trying to steal our stuff!" Damien shouted.

"You must go to him at once!" Sakura shouted.

"Yeah, I know I must." Damien said, springing out of bed in a hurry.

He ran to go see Umbreon, Sakura and Boomer following him out close behind.

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 **That's enough drama out of the eeveelutions, I'm trying to write a story about someone else here.**

 **Unrelated Note: Batman's parents are dead.**


	11. Chapter 11 - Amends

**I was making changes to this chapter to make it a little deeper. Though I'm not sure now that was such a surmountable effort I made. That's not an excuse and that's not to say you wouldn't otherwise enjoy it, I'll let you decide that for yourself.**

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 **Amends**

(Champhrier Forest)

Damien and pokémon walked through the field and stopped at the edge of the woods.

"Umbreon, are you out there?!" Damien shouted.

They did not hear a reply from Umbreon though. They went into the forest to search for him. None of them had any clue as to where they might be. As they moved on through they kept quiet to avoid attracting unwanted attention and listened carefully. Boomer thought he heard something rustling in some bushes nearby. He wandered off to inspect it without the others even noticing. Damien and Sakura kept walking through until they found a clearing that was covered in webs and ice.

"I do not like the sight of this." Sakura said to Damien.

He turned around and looked at her. That was when he noticed Boomer was missing.

"What happened to Boomer?" Damien asked quietly.

Sakura looked around.

"I do not know." She said.

"Boomer…" Damien said, worried that Boomer lost himself in the woods, or worse.

They then heard sounds of a struggle down in a nearby cave.

"What if that's him down there? I need to check it out." Damien quietly said, slowly approaching the cave's entrance with a pocket-sized flashlight.

"Damien, it might be dangerous." Sakura said to Damien.

That did not stop him. Damien crept closer to the cave until he was standing right aside from the opening. Damien had his heart in his mouth as he was prepared to see what was on the other side of the hole. He quickly leaned in and peered inside with the flashlight. What he found was multiple desiccated remains embalmed tightly in webbing scattered around the inside of the cave. Damien held back nausea at the sight and smell. Despite this, he investigated further for Boomer and instead found Umbreon and Glaceon tied up in webs, completely and unable to break free of it. Glaceon was too exhausted to move while Umbreon was still putting up a fight.

"Sakura, it's Umbreon and Glaceon." Damien whispered to Sakura.

Sakura floated inside afterwards and saw for herself in disgust. She covered her eyes with her hands and shuddered.

"I'll get you out." Damien said quietly, placing the flashlight in his mouth and pulling out a retractable knife from his pocket.

Damien started cutting away at the thick webs that cocooned Umbreon with his knife, starting with his face.

"Get out of here." Umbreon said as soon as he could speak.

"You need help getting free." Damien said, still cutting at the webs.

"No, get out of here! It's right behind you!" Umbreon shouted.

Damien and Sakura turned around and saw a massive ariados scuttling madly towards them.

The hungry looking ariados sprayed a spider web directed at Sakura. Damien jumped towards Sakura and shoved her away getting himself caught in her place.

"Damien!" Sakura shouted, reaching for Damien as he was being wrapped up in a cocoon.

"Sakura, use psychic now!" Damien quickly shouted.

Sakura used psychic to lift Ariados in the air and throw it back on the ground and repeated this a few times. Without a doubt it did some damage as it lied on the floor of the cave. However, it made Ariados more angry than anything else. It had yet to properly cocoon Damien before Sakura attacked it. Damien was attempting to break free. The ariados took notice of that. Sakura used magical leaf to try cutting away the webs around Damien.

"Sakura, don't worry about me. Just keep attacking that ugly thing!" Damien shouted.

Ariados used poison sting on Sakura, spraying a stream of hot purple needles at her. The pain that each individual needle shot at her hurt like nothing else she was ever used to. She was forced to collapse down on her hands and knees and cringe in pain. Ariados sprayed a string shot at Sakura and flung her into Damien, then sprayed a web at them both, sticking them together. Umbreon was trying to shoot the ravenous bug-type with shadow balls but could not see past the webs so he completely missed it. The ariados left the nest, waiting for its next victim as the group was left to their confinement.

* * *

Damien was shaking and grunting to get him and Sakura free, even though he knew it was useless. He caught a glimpse at an object shining in the light near the opening of the cave. He tipped his head up to get a better view. As he narrowed his eyes, he saw that it was his knife that got knocked away in the scuffle.

"Hey, Sakura, my knife is over there. Can you use psychic to bring it to us so I can get us loose?" Damien asked Sakura.

" My apologies, Damien, but I cannot do that. I can neither see nor sense the knife." Sakura replied.

Damien was flailing around aggressively in a vain attempt to get free once again, reaching for the knife that was well out of reach as well, all while grunting out of strain and frustration before he gave up.

"Boomer!" Damien shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Save your energy, it's just waiting for us all to tires out." Umbreon said.

Damien sighed.

"Why did youse come back?" Umbreon asked.

"I figured out what you were telling me before. So you really changed your mind about me?" Damien asked.

"I wised up. I figured it would be best for everyone for me to move on and let bygones be bygones, you know?" Umbreon replied.

"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier too. It really went both ways for me. When we get out of this, can we be friends again?" Damien asked.

"Maybe we can _if_ we get out of this." Umbreon said.

"Umby, come on. Don't talk like that." Glaceon said.

"What has become of your child?" Sakura asked.

Glaceon and Umbreon faced down.

"Oh, my apologies. I did not-" Sakura said.

"No, it's not… that. Yesterday, after you left, me and Umby had a fight and it ended with me freezing him. I took our child and left home with him after that. I hoped I could find somewhere safe to spend the night until I could think of what to do. We walked into a trap and… it was so foolish of me. Umby came along to rescue us and wound up captured in our child's place. All we could do at that point was tell him he had to run away. He did and was followed out by that spider and… I don't know what happened to him, or that we'll see him again." Glaceon said with a weak voice.

"We'll sees him again, I know it. We just can't let that ugly bastard win." Umbreon said.

"Oh, I wish those spiders never came to this forest." Glaceon groaned.

"What do you mean _came_ to this forest?" Damien asked.

"Those spider pokémon weren't always a part of this forest. They came here about a month ago and since then, they terrorized the other pokémon here." Glaceon said.

"So what you're saying is that they're an invasive species." Damien said.

"In a matter of speaking, yes." Glaceon said.

"Great, so close to home too." Damien grumbled.

"Damien?" Sakura asked.

Damien looked in Sakura's eyes.

"Yeah, Sakura?" He replied.

"If we are unable to escape this…" Sakura was interrupted by an obnoxiously loud chirping sound.

"Hey!" a voice called.

"Is that…?" Damien muttered.

"Damien! Sakura! You two down here?!" the same voice called some more.

Boomer flew down into the hole.

"There you two are, I must have lost you earlier. Whoa, what happened in here?" Boomer asked.

"Boomer, what are you doing? Be quiet." Damien whispered loudly.

"Why? What's going on here?" Boomer asked, not lowering his voice.

"Boomer, shut… look out behind you!" Damien shouted.

Ariados crept up on the ceiling of the cave, sneaking up on Boomer. Boomer turned around and saw it.

"Whoa!" Boomer shouted.

The ariados pounced off the ceiling and onto Boomer, who faded instantly. The ariados got up off the ground and stood still, confused by what happened.

"Ha! Gotcha, stupid." Boomer said, floating behind Ariados.

The ariados faced him. He flapped his wings and used razor wind to attack the ariados and cut the webs trapping everyone else. Ariados braced for the attack and took the hits then looked as his captives unraveled themselves.

"No! My meal! You are going to suffer for that!" Ariados hissed at Boomer.

The ariados promptly charged at Boomer. Glaceon used ice beam to freeze the ground Ariados was running on, causing it to slip and fall. Umbreon tackled the ariados hard enough to send it into one of the ice formations that Glaceon made, trying to fight it off before causing the ice to shatter and incapacitate the ariados. Everyone else saw their opportunity to get away and ran outside.

"Boomer, that was amazing." Sakura said to Boomer, still surprised at what happened and how quickly it did as they ran out of the nest.

"Thanks, it was fun." Boomer replied.

They got outside and Eevee was waiting there for them.

"I got 'em!" Boomer shouted to Eevee.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Eevee said eagerly running to Umbreon and Glaceon.

"Boomer, where were you?" Damien asked.

"I found Eevee out there while you guys were walking about. He told me what happened at his home so I came over here and kicked back, watching what that ariados does and came up with a plan. Then I went in there and used that double team decoy trick I saw on TV and boom! Saved your asses." Boomer proudly said.

"That… was an awesome plan. Thank you, Boomer." Damien said.

"Um… hey, we still needs to deal with that thing." Umbreon chimed in.

Everyone looked and saw as the ariados crawled out of the nest and it was pissed off.

"You will all have your fluids drained." the ariados hissed a low growl.

It made a screeching buzz sound and soon after dozens of spinarak arrived and formed an arc around the group with Ariados being in the middle. The six stood together closely as the bug pokemon were approaching them slowly. The six waited for them to make the first move. Then at once, several spinarak simultaneously used string shot in an attempt to immediately apprehend them again. Sakura looked to Damien and he looked back and they both nodded. Sakura stepped up in front of the group and Glaceon joined her. Sakura used magical leaf and Glaceon used swift. Their combined moves counteracted the incoming attack.

"Umbreon, do you remember that shadow ball cover trick from yesterday?" Damien asked Umbreon.

"Yeah." Umbreon said.

"Then use shadow ball at their feet, please." Damien requested.

Umbreon launched a shadow ball towards the spider horde's ground and caused a dusty explosion around them.

"Now, Boomer, use Tailwind."

Boomer used tailwind to make him and Umbreon more agile. Umbreon used feint attack to charge into the enemy horde and take out a few spinarak at a time. They started to fire webs at Umbreon in retaliation but he was able to avoid them thanks to the tail wind. Umbreon took out a few more spinarak until he was finally hit and trapped.

"Boomer, use hurricane to give yourself an opening then use razor wind to cut Umbreon free!" Damien commanded Boomer.

Boomer used hurricane and wind-blasted the spinarak surrounding Umbreon away, then flew in close to use razor wind to cut the webs off of Umbreon.

"Thanks." Umbreon said to Boomer.

"Less talk, more ass whooping." Boomer replied.

At this point, most of the bug pokémon were focusing their attack on Umbreon and Boomer. They were creeping towards them and then Glaceon used quick attack to knock off some of the spinarak out of the way and joined with Umbreon and Boomer in the circle. The spinarak used poison sting and hundreds of purple glowing needles came towards them. Glaceon used barrier to repel each individual needle, leaving her, Umbreon and Boomer unharmed.

"Sakura, Boomer, use psychic and hurricane to pile them up!" Damien commanded.

Boomer gusted up a hurricane to blast the bug pokémon, including Ariados, pushing one over another. Sakura used psychic to toss the remaining spinarak into the spider pile. Umbreon began charging for a shadow ball. Eevee ran up to Umbreon's side.

"Here, Daddy, let me help you with that." Eevee said, laying one of his front paws up against Umbreon.

Umbreon became shrouded in a multi-colored aura and then let loose an enormous shadow ball at the bug-pokémon, causing a huge explosion that sent most of the spinarak flying out of sight. A moment later, the dust that followed cleared out and Boomer was trapped in webs. Umbreon was barely able to hold himself up. His family formed around him.

"Daddy, are you okay?" Eevee asked Umbreon.

"Umbreon, stay with us! You have to keep fighting!" Glaceon shouted to Umbreon, who could only respond with a painful grunt as he still struggled to stand.

Ariados appeared from the dust with its horn broken off and was angrier than ever. It sprayed Glaceon and Umbreon to a tree.

"This ends now!" the ariados angrily hissed at Damien.

"Sakura, psychic!" Damien commanded Sakura.

Sakura's eyes and horns began to glow but before she could do anything the ariados sprayed her in the eyes with webs, making her unable to see or attack before falling over. She was shaking to try to get loose but was unable to free herself.

"Oh no." Damien muttered.

Ariados approached Sakura to tie her up completely to make sure she could not even attack.

"No!" Damien shouted right before he sprinted towards Ariados and tackled it into a rock.

Damien ran to Sakura with a stick to get her out of the web. The Ariados was already back up and scuttling towards Damien.

"Damien, it is approaching us!" Sakura shouted to Damien.

Damien turned to face the ariados. Ariados jumped to pounce on Damien but was tackled in mid-air by Eevee and was thrown back down. Eevee was standing firmly in Ariados' way undaunted. The ariados tried catching, him but Eevee avoided it due to his swiftness. Eevee jumped at Ariados' face and bit it by the nub that was its horn, trying to hold on. The ariados flailed around in pain, trying to make Eevee lose his grip. Eevee bit down as hard as he could for dear life but was finally tossed into the air and Ariados used poison sting to spray Eevee full of toxic needles. Before Eevee could hit the ground, a blue light surrounded him and carried him to safety. Sakura was free of the web and she used psychic to save Eevee. The ariados slowly advanced towards Sakura and Eevee with a fed-up demeanor. It was then hit on the face with a small stone. Ariados quickly looked to where it came from and saw Damien holding a handful of stones.

"How do you like that, you fat sack of dirt?!" Damien shouted at Ariados, attempting to insult it while throwing another stone its way, hitting it on one of its eyes.

Ariados hissed and sprayed a rope of web at Damien. Damien held his right arm out and allowed it to be stuck with the web.

"Now, Sakura, use psychic on Ariados!" Damien shouted while pulling his web covered arm back.

Sakura's eyes and horns glowed and she lifted Ariados in the air, holding it completely still. She then spun Ariados, causing its own web to wrap around it until its legs were completely tied to its own body and was rendered completely restrained. Sakura then let it down on the ground.

* * *

"Ugh… this cannot have happened!" Ariados hissed.

"Sakura, would you be a dear and use magical leaf to get the others free, please?" Damien asked Sakura.

Sakura summoned dozens of glowing leaves and shot them at Boomer, Umbreon and Glaceon to cut them free of their incarcerations. Eevee was still on the ground, hurt from what appeared as purple bubbles and electricity surging around him. Everybody surrounded the poisoned eevee.

"It feels bad. I don't like it." Eevee said with a whimper.

"Stay with me, honey, it'll be alright." Glaceon said with glistening eyes.

"Damien, surely you must have something in your possession that will make Eevee well again." Sakura said to Damien.

"I think I have an antidote in here somewhere." Damien said while digging around in his bag.

"I swear I had it…" Damien said, dumping all of the bag's contents onto the ground.

There was no antidote to be found.

"It isn't there! How?! I had it yesterday!" Damien shouted.

"You lost it?!" Umbreon shouted.

Eevee groaned.

"It has to be in the field. Boomer, can you find your way over to the field and see if you can find it there?" Damien asked Boomer.

Boomer took off for the field and everyone stayed behind.

"I have something else in the meantime. Eat these." Damien said, holding oran berries to Eevee's face.

Eevee ate the berries, helping him stay in shape. Boomer came back holding onto a spray bottle.

"Is this it?" Boomer asked.

"No, it's a freaking burn heal!" Damien shouted, throwing the bottle onto the ground.

The poison bubbles and electricity surged from Eevee again, causing him to scream.

"Come on, do something!" Umbreon shouted desperately.

Damien briskly paced back and forth in thought for an alternative solution to this dilemma. He held his head in his hands and groaned.

"Okay, little dude, I have another idea. Do you know how to use refresh?" Damien asked.

"What is that?" Eevee asked.

"You relax and concentrate until you start glowing green, you will feel better instantly." Damien explained.

"I haven't done that before, but I can try it." Eevee said.

He calmed himself and closed his eyes.

"That's it, you're doing great." Damien said.

Eevee breathed slowly and began chiming. He shined a radiant green color and he was being cured of his poison. His eyes opened and he got up and ran around in circles.

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" Eevee chanted excitedly.

Everyone was overjoyed to see Eevee back to his old healthy self.

"I can't believe you remembers teaching me to use refresh. I had you all wrong. You trained your friends well and, you saved my family. You are a good trainer, and a good friend. So, thank you… Damien." Umbreon said to Damien, trying to sound grateful.

"You're welcome." Damien said back.

Umbreon closed his eyes and leaned forward. Damien extended his left hand towards the top of Umbreon's head and made contact. Umbreon had felt as if the weight of his resentment had been lifted from him and his closure with Damien has been realized. Damien felt accomplished having reconciled with his old friend. The others looked upon the two feeling happy to have seen them finally getting along.

"Well, squirt, do you still want to travel? I don't think we should have to worry too much for you either way." Umbreon said to Eevee.

"It's not like you'll never see us again, home is never too far away after all." Glaceon said to Eevee.

"What do you says?" Umbreon asked.

"Yeah! I wanna make lots of friends and become strong and everything!" Eevee shouted, wagging his tail back and forth.

"Good luck then, little buddy." Umbreon said to Eevee.

"We'll both miss you very much." Glaceon said.

"We'll come back soon, won't we?" Eevee asked Damien.

"Of course we will." Damien said.

"I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy." Eevee said to Umbreon and Glaceon.

"Ah, squirt." Umbreon groaned.

"Love you too." Umbreon quietly replied.

"Ungh!" Umbreon grunted loudly in pain.

"Is everything okay?" Damien asked.

"Uhh… yeah, this is all just happening so fast, that's all." Umbreon said jerking a tear.

"Okay, little dude, this is for you. Have you seen a pokéball before?" Damien said as he pulled an empty pokéball out of his jacket and showed it to Eevee.

Eevee shook his head sideways.

"You just push the button and you will go inside until I call you out. Then you can travel with me anywhere." Damien said.

Eevee looked at Damien and tilted his head in confusion and looked back at Umbreon.

"It'll be alright, it's not as bad as it sounds." Umbreon said.

Eevee looked at the pokéball once more before deciding.

"Yay!" Eevee said, jumping in the air excitedly.

He pressed his paw against the button and allowed himself to be captured in the pokéball. The ball chimed as Damien had captured Eevee and he let him back out afterwards.

"That was fun! Let's do it again!" Eevee said amusingly.

"Maybe later, we should say bye first." Damien said.

"Bye, I'll miss you!" Eevee said to Umbreon and Glaceon.

"Bye bye, honey. Stay safe." Glaceon said.

"Now get outta here, squirt. That training stuff ain't gonna happens on its own, you know? Damien, feel free to comes back sometime, the forest will be a lot safer next time you visit." Umbreon said to Damien.

"It's been great fighting side by side with you and becoming friends again. I won't forget it." Damien said to Umbreon, waving.

"Oh, and Damien." Umbreon called out.

"Yeah?" Damien asked.

"If youse sees Charmander again, give him hell for me." Umbreon requested.

"Umby." Glaceon grunted at Umbreon for cussing in front of their child.

"You can count on it." Damien assured.

Damien walked away with Boomer, Sakura and his new companion Eevee by his side.

* * *

As Damien and friends were walking back to his house with Sakura on his shoulders Damien was talking with Eevee about giving him a nickname like Boomer and Sakura had.

"So what should we call you now since you're a part of the team?" Damien asked.

"You tell me what I should be called." Eevee said.

"Jeez, I don't know. Well... you're energetic, so what if we called you _Peppy_?" Damien asked.

"That sounds pretty cliché and dumb." Boomer said.

"Oh yeah, you got a better idea, genius?" Damien teased.

"How does _Zippy_ sound? Cause he's all fast and everything." Boomer asked.

"Well sheesh, and you're calling me the cliché one." Damien teased again.

"Aw, screw you." Boomer said.

"Your father called you 'squirt', I am not certain that you would find that name suitable though." Sakura said to Eevee.

"Wait, how about this, what about _Rocket_? That sounds like an awesome name." Boomer said.

Damien pulled Boomer in and noogied him on the head.

"Yeah, if it's so awesome then how bout' I name him Boomer and I change your name to Rocket?!" Damien shouted at Boomer while laughing.

"Ow, no, stop it!" Boomer shouted, trying to break free.

Sakura laughed at them both.

"How do you fancy that name, would you wish to be called Rocket?" Sakura asked Eevee.

"Yeah, I wanna be Rocket!" Eevee shouted.

"Oh… um… well, okay. Your name is Rocket then." Damien said.

"Yay, I'm Rocket! This is going to be fun! Fun! Fun!" the eevee now named Rocket shouted, running in circles around Damien while he was walking.

Everyone laughed.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

 **All that trouble for an eevee? Seems legit. This may be the largest battle scene I made in proportion to the given situation. I wasn't sure what else to say other than something like "Eevee, come with me." Damien said. "Okay." Eevee says and have that be it. I wanted at least something remotely climactic for the new member and now that I look back on it, I don't think I completely regret it. Other than showing the origin of how Rocket became a part of the team, I think I showed potential in his character as well as background and development for the pre-existing characters, which is something I typically welcome. Rocket? Let's see... goofy, energetic, willing to fight bravely for friends and family. Works for me, solid character, boom. Moving on!**

 **Unrelated Note: Wasps are dirty little pests who need to get the crap kicked out of them and mugged. This is not up for debate.**


	12. Chapter 12 - Confidence

**After I played as Shulk from Xenoblade and trolling fools with my cheeky monado powers and making them " _really feel it"_ in Smash Bros, I decided I want to get his game. Only problem is that I don't have the _NEW_ 3ds, which is total bogus considering that means I need to drop 240$ for both the 3ds and the game even though I already have a perfectly fine regular 3ds in my possession. Oh well, I still think it's totally worth it. Take my money Nintendo. Am I right? Maybe that game will inspire some cool ideas for me to use here, or maybe not. Whatever, story time.**

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

 **Confidence**

(Damien's House)

The group came home in the afternoon and still had the rest of the day available to them. Damien let his pokémon in the front door before he went in. His mother was in the kitchen washing dishes and noticed Damien come in the house.

"Good afternoon, darling. Where have you been? You left without telling me." Rose said.

"Oh, uh… I was out searching for new pokémon. Sorry I didn't let you know before I left." Damien replied.

"Oh, it's no problem. So did you have any luck finding any pokémon out there?" Rose asked Damien.

"Me? Yeah I did. Didn't you see my new little eevee friend come in?" Damien asked.

Rocket ran up to Rose and jumps a few times in front of her.

"Hey, Hey, I like you. I'm Rocket, who are you? Whoever you are, Rocket likes you." Rocket said to Rose, jumping up and down.

"Jeez." Boomer snickered.

"Rocket, this is my mother." Damien said.

"How nice to meet you, Rocket." Rose said as she leaned over and pet Rocket on the head.

"Are you a mommy like Rocket's mommy? Do you shoot at things with ice?" Rocket asked Rose.

"Okay, Rocket, take it easy." Damien said to Rocket with a laugh.

"Damien, can I talk with you for a moment?" Rose asked Damien.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" Damien asked.

"Alone?" Rose asked specifically.

"Oh… hey, you guys, would you mind going out back for a bit?" Damien asked his pokémon, opening the back door for them.

Boomer and Rocket raced each other out to the back yard. Sakura walked out after them and looked back at Damien nervously. Damien was a bit confused as to why.

"What was it you wanted to talk about, Mom?" Damien asked.

"Where did you go to catch your pokémon today?" Rose asked.

"Oh. You know the field that sits on the edge of that forest just south of here? That's where." Damien said.

"Did you run into any trouble while you were out?" Rose asked.

"Nothing too complicated, I had to battle my way to him, that's all. Why do you ask?" Damien asked.

"Oh, no reason. I just want to be sure my young man is staying safe like he promised me he would. So tell me about your battle." Rose told Damien.

Damien had the feeling his mother was becoming suspicious of him and that was what Sakura looked concerned for.

"Uh, well… we came to the field to search for some pokémon, found some angry bug-types. We took care of them though. I found Rocket afterwards, he seemed like a pokémon I should have with me so I caught him, plain and simple." Damien said with a slight nervous laugh, feeling technically honest with his wording.

"Anything else?" Rose asked.

"Nope, I just came home after that." Damien replied.

"Alright then. I'm glad things went well for you." Rose said.

"Thanks, Mom. I'm going to start packing now." Damien said to Rose as he started up the stairs on his way to his room.

"Okay. Oh hey, Damien?!" Rose shouted.

"Yeah?!" Damien replied stopping halfway up the stairs.

"Remember when you're on your journey that when you battle you're not a pokémon, and try not to get your clothes dirty, webs sort of tend to stain your outfit!" Rose shouted to Damien.

Damien patted his shirt to feel the webs still covering him.

"Ah, damn it, Mom!" He whispered loudly to himself, tearing off the webs.

Outside in the back Boomer and Rocket were tossing a disc back and forth. Sakura was sitting on the patio swing watching them both and thinking to herself about their day along with the moment she shared with Damien back in the forest. Damien opened the back door and leaned out.

"Come on, guys, were leaving for Lumiose City now." Damien called out to his pokémon.

Boomer, Sakura and Rocket stopped what they were doing and followed Damien back in. They walked through the house and passed Rose on the way to the front door.

"Are you leaving now, Damien? Rose asked Damien.

"Yeah, it's time we stopped sitting around here and went out to see the world again. It was nice staying with you, Mom." Damien said.

"It was very nice having you stay, honey. Give your mother a kiss before you go." Rose said.

Rose walked over to Damien and he bent his head over so Rose could give him a kiss on the forehead.

"All of you take good care of my boy." Rose said to Damien's pokémon.

"Rose!" Sakura shouted, leaping into Rose's arms and hugging her.

"Thank you so much for your care. I will miss you." Sakura said.

"You're very welcome, Sakura. It's been a pleasure having you help around. Keep him safe and good luck finding your family, sweetie." Rose said as she set Sakura down.

"You may be certain that I shall." Sakura said.

"Love you, Mom." Damien said.

"I love you too, honey, and remember what I told you." Rose said.

"Uh… yeah, I will. Goodbye, Mom, I'll see you again sometime soon." Damien said as he grabbed his bag and walked to the door.

"Stay safe!" Rose yelled as they walked out, waving.

* * *

(Route 5)

Damien was walking down the dirt road to Lumiose City with Sakura on his shoulders and Rocket and Boomer at his sides.

"So… Mom can't ever find out about what really happened earlier today, if she did she would probably hunt me down and kill me to death. We're all clear on that, right?" Damien asked his pokémon.

"You're lucky she even let you go after she found out you got your hands dirty again in the first place." Boomer said.

"Bud, you're right. It's crazy that she trusts me to take care of myself after what we've been through." Damien said.

"You do know that she only wishes for you to remain safe. She is your mother after all." Sakura said.

"Yeah, of course I do, but you know how overwhelming she can be when it comes to that." Damien said.

"But that is why you have us at your sides, so that we may keep each other safe." Sakura said.

"Even from your mom." Boomer added.

"We make a great team! We saved Mommy and Daddy from those mean buggies. We can do anything!" Rocket shouted.

"Thanks, you guys, I am going to make a better effort to keep us all out of trouble though." Damien said.

"So, Damien, what is it like for you to live in the city?" Sakura asked Damien.

"What is it like to live in the city? I mean, I've only lived there for about a year but I think it kinda grew on me so far. I wasn't sure about the idea at first and I've had my share of doubts since I've been a town boy my whole life. Then it got easier for me and I got to know some of the people around, so that was cool. I would walk to and from the university sometimes, depending on what I was carrying and how nice the weather was, so I found my way around Lumiose. All and all I would rather be in a small town, but I like it there and I'm sure you will too, you've seen the movies." Damien said.

"Yes, I know. Though from what I have observed, it seems as if humans who live in the cities are somewhat… divided." Sakura said.

"What do you mean?" Damien asked.

"In my forest, there would always be someone ready to assist you, no matter who you were. Everyone was willing to help each other when they were in need and not one individual would be without support. In your cities however, those going through difficulties are often ignored or denied by others around them. I find it rather cruel. What is the meaning of that?" Sakura asked.

"That's an excellent question, Sakura. My best guess is that most people feel too preoccupied with their own business. They worry that if they take a risk by trying to help, they would risk the time or money necessary to take care of their own needs as well and they would wind up like those less fortunate." Damien said.

"That is tragic." Sakura said sorrowfully.

"Some people think it won't change unless something unthinkable happens. A few years ago, a guy named Lysandre tried to… make most of the people in the world disappear in order to make life better for everyone who stayed. He was stopped by a trainer with the help of his pokémon." Damien said.

"Please, tell me more of this trainer." Sakura said.

"Sure, he was a great trainer that cared for his pokémon. He was someone people respected and was known all over the Kalos region. After he defeated Lysandre, he went on to face the Kalos pokémon league and became champion. After that, he sort of vanished. Nobody knows where he went or why he isn't seen here as often as he used to be. Sometimes he would be seen somewhere for a short while, then he disappears again. It's really weird." Damien said.

"Do you believe something as drastic as that is required to happen in order to meet everyone's needs?" Sakura asked.

"I think that if more people in the world learned to respect each other and live hand in hand then we can see a day where everyone can live happy lives, kind of like the pokémon in your forest. You were very lucky to live in such a place." Damien said.

"I know. I have never once taken any of it for granted. I was grateful for every moment of my life that I have spent there. I still wish that there was some way I could have saved it." Sakura said with a whiny tone.

"Hey there… you're going to have it back. You know why? Because we're going to find your family and they will do what they can to make everything alright." Damien said, looking up at Sakura and taking her hand.

"I know. I trust in you, Damien." Sakura said as she felt Damien's touch.

"Would you like to tell that story about them and your home once more for Rocket?" Damien asked.

"Yay! Story time!" Rocket shouted.

"Hmm." Sakura hummed.

Her horns began to glow and distort the air around them.

* * *

(Sakura's Story)

My home was not always the vast paradise I was raised in. It was, in fact, quite the contrary. It was a dangerous place, vulnerable to attackers. My mother was raised with her family in that same forest in fear for their lives. They worried that someone or something would come and bring harm to them at any time. It was because of this that my mother had become a protector of the forest when she reached adulthood. She, along with the other protectors, made an effort to defend the forest from any threat and provide security for those living there. As insignificant as it seemed, my mother was pleased that she could succeed in making the others feel secure.

One day, my father had come to my home when he was lost. Nobody had ever seen anyone quite like him before and they were most uncertain what to think of him at first. Many feared him simply because of his appearance, but after he drove away the forest's enemy, they welcomed him with open arms. My mother, however, did not trust him because he seemed so strange compared to all the others. As time passed, my father was granted the title of "Guardian" and was recognized as a symbol of the forest's security. One of the protectors had become envious of my father's accomplishments and had him framed for treachery under false pretenses. My father was exiled from the forest as nearly everyone had him taken for a traitor. My mother, on the other hand, knew of his innocence. She had left the forest and pursued him and told him that she would rather have someone like him in her company than to live among those who would cast down others without fair judgment.

For a time, they lived in hardship, but found it worthwhile when they realized just how much they meant to each other. They fell in love and decided to settle with a friend of theirs. Shortly after, they have learned that the forest's enemy has returned and threatened the forest once again. Despite how badly my father was treated, he embarked to defend the forest and vanquish the enemy once and for all. He succeeded in defeating the enemy with my mother's assistance and the others from the forest begged them for their forgiveness. My parents were given their privileges back to them and they were given a home at the highest point of the forest so that they may look after it and defend it for as long as they shall live there.

* * *

(Route 5)

"That is the way my mother had always told me that story." Sakura stated.

"That was a great story! Your home sounds neat! Rocket wants to go there some time!" Rocket shouted.

"I love hearing that story, Sakura. Your parents must have been so proud of all they did." Damien said.

"It was their very love that inspired them to teach my home to live peacefully, and so forth. I suppose you could say that it… quite literally changed the world." Sakura said fondly.

"It must be nice, to have that feeling that is." Damien said.

"What feeling do you speak of?" Sakura asked curiously.

"To share such strong feelings of trust and loyalty with someone that you can accomplish things that would otherwise be unimaginable, despite their differences. So few people get to understand that feeling, to look past their differences and find something more meaningful than just themselves…" Damien explained.

Sakura looked aside with a blushed smile.

"I don't know, maybe that's too much for me to ask." Damien said disappointedly.

"Why would you think that?" Sakura asked.

"Because…" Damien said, just before sighing.

"If I'm being honest with myself here, I can hardly ever see myself feeling that way towards anyone, and not just because of all the times I felt I was shot down or neglected. Maybe I just plain don't have it in me to feel strongly enough that I can ignore my fears and doubts towards people and just… do it." Damien explained.

"I believe the only limits to your own feelings are those that you have set for yourself. If you were to succeed those fears then you will perhaps love and be loved by another as my mother and father have for each other." Sakura explained encouragingly as she was brushing Damien's hair.

"You really think I could do that?" Damien asked.

"Absolutely. My mother could do so and therefore, I have the utmost confidence that you are more than capable of finding your other _._ " Sakura replied.

Damien smiled, wishing his eyes could meet Sakura's. This particular conversation had Boomer feeling awkward and wishing he could be somewhere else.

"Hey, speaking of helping each other, you mind helping me out by returning me so I don't have to fly all the way there?" Boomer asked Damien.

"Yeah, sure thing, we'd probably arrive when it's dark out anyways. What about you, Rocket? Do you want to go back inside your pokéball too?" Damien asked Rocket.

"Yeah! Put Rocket in!" Rocket shouted excitedly.

Damien had returned Boomer and Rocket to their respective pokéballs so they would not have to travel themselves. He left Sakura outside her pokéball since he knew she was never particularly fond of being inside of it. She has never even been inside her cherish ball since the night Damien "captured" her. Sakura did not hate it the way she originally did, but she told Damien that she would much rather be outside with him as much as physically possible and that she felt uncomfortable being contained in a device, regardless of who is in possession of it.

* * *

"Do you believe that Rocket will experience difficulties adjusting to our lifestyle? He is, after all, quite aloof in nature." Sakura said to Damien.

"Well, I'm not expecting it to be easy since he wasn't raised the same way you were. He will be a challenge in every sense of the word, that much I'm definitely counting on. I know it will be worth the effort though. He is Umbreon's child, so he might as well be like my own." Damien said.

"You are suggesting that he is going to be your child in a manner of speaking?" Sakura asked.

"Heh, you're right. It does sound that way doesn't it? In that case then yes, that is what I mean." Damien asked, chuckling.

"I believe that is a most positive perception, Damien." Sakura said.

"I believe so as well." Damien said.

"Sakura?" Damien asked.

Sakura looked down at Damien.

"Yes?" She replied.

"What was it you were going to say to me back in the forest?" Damien asked.

"What I…? Oh." Sakura said.

"I was trying to tell you as always how deeply I appreciate being in your company, and that I cherish every moment we spend together endlessly, even if it would be our last." Sakura explained.

She let out a silent sigh.

"You know? I do hear you say that often and I still can't quite find the words to describe how good that makes me feel. I have to admit, I sometimes forget what it's like to have met someone who cares for me the way you do. You're very special to me, Sakura, and I'm happy that I get to share this experience with you." Damien said to Sakura.

Sakura had become overjoyed hearing Damien's words of the effect she had on him and it made her hum. Damien could feel her body lightly warming up on his shoulders and the back of his head and it was comforting for them both.

* * *

Damien kept on walking for some time before he saw Lumiose city from the distance.

"Huh? Hey look, we're here now, Sakura." Damien said to Sakura.

He did not get an answer.

"Sakura…" Damien said a bit louder.

Then the thought occurred to him. Damien lifted Sakura off his shoulders and into his arms. Just as he figured, Sakura had fallen asleep on his shoulders as he was walking. He looked at the blissful smile on her peaceful sleeping face as he was walking and found himself thinking about the connection he had between them. Damien closed his eyes placing his forehead on Sakura's.

"I know great things are going to come our way, Sakura. Just you wait." Damien whispered.

* * *

(Damien's Apartment)

Damien came to his apartment building in Lumiose and walked up to his residence and through his front door. He walked over to his room and placed the sleeping Sakura in his bed and his bag on the floor at the foot of the bed. He stood straight up and stretched, cracking his spine. He felt slightly sore from carrying his usual equipment plus Sakura on his shoulders all the way from Champhrier. He thought to let Boomer and Rocket out of their pokéballs so they could wake up in the apartment in the morning. He released them from their pokéballs and they were still asleep. He placed Rocket on his trampoline chair, which was covered in a sheet and hung boomer on a coat rack in the closet. He pulled the blankets over Sakura and changed into his night gear and threw himself in bed face down, not even bothering to pull the blankets over himself and fell asleep.

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 **Nope. No comment on the chapter subject. Only this...**

 **Unrelated Note: The very first Harley-Davidson motorcycle was believed to have used a tomato can as its carburetor.**


	13. Chapter 13 - Development

**I'm kind of curious as to how all the people who viewed my story were able to find it. I got onto a different computer than the one I typically use, went on this site and typed in gardevoir to see if I could find my story on the list just for fun. I didn't find it. That's a personal question I suppose I can live without having an answer to for now though.**

 **Update: Nevermind, I got it! I think the keyword has to be in either the title or the summary in order for a story to come up when searched, or something like that.**

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 **Development**

The next morning Boomer woke up at ten in the morning. He stretched and looked around and saw he was in Damien's apartment.

"Yep, it's good to be back." He said.

Rocket wakes up shortly after and yawns.

"Hey, Rocket. How'd you sleep?" Boomer asked.

"Rocket had a great sleep. Hey… what are we doing here?" Rocket asked.

"This is our trainer's other home. We were walking here last night, remember?" Boomer asked back.

"Oh yeah!" Rocket shouted, smiling.

He stretched and jumped off the trampoline chair to walk around and explore. Boomer released himself from the coat rack and hovered over to Damien. He saw Damien passed out like a log and Sakura snuggling his arm.

"Slackers…" Boomer mumbled.

"Well, looks like I'm making breakfast this morning. Do you wanna try some pancakes? I never made them before, but I've seen how it's done." Boomer said to Rocket as he went into the kitchen.

"What's pancakes?" Rocket asked while cocking his head.

"Pancakes are awesome, that's what they are. Eh, you'll probably like em' anyways. Can you get me the bag of flour in the cupboard?" Boomer asked as he moved a glass bowl over towards the stove top.

"What's a cupboard?" Rocket asked.

"It's that big square thing next to you. You just pull on it and it opens." Boomer said while looking for a specific pan.

Rocket bit the handle on the cupboard and pulled it back, opening the cupboard. He jumped inside to search around. Rocket knocked over boxes of cereal, pastas, spices and the small sack of flour, spilling it open as he rummaged through the inside of the cupboard. Boomer heard the noise Rocket was making and flew to him.

"What are you doing in there?" Boomer asked, looking into the cupboard.

"Rocket doesn't see any flowers. Are you sure it's in here?" Rocket asked.

Boomer facepalmed.

"Forget it. Just have a look around the place and make yourself at home while I make food, okay?" Boomer said, scooping flour back into the bag.

"Okay!" Rocket shouted with a smile before he ran off.

* * *

Sakura began to wake up from the commotion in the kitchen and looked around Damien's room.

"Huh?" She mumbled as she slowly fluttered her eyes open.

Sakura stretched and yawned, got up and walked out of the bedroom, down the hall and into the living room where she saw Boomer gathering ingredients in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Boomer." Sakura happily said.

Boomer turned around.

"What? Oh hey, sleep well?" Boomer asked.

"I have. So, this is Damien's apartment?" Sakura asked.

"Yep. What do you think of it?" Boomer asked back as he was making measurements.

Sakura looked left and right around the living room as she stood, taking in the more simplistic surroundings that made Damien's residence.

"It is smaller than I anticipated it would be." Sakura said.

She walked to the balcony and pulled back the curtains and saw Lumiose City. Damien lived in one of the apartments on the third floor of a building in the Autumnal Avenue so she could see a fair portion of the city under a rising sun.

" _Kirlia…_ " Sakura vocally said, mesmerized by the sight.

Boomer had finished gathering and measuring ingredients for the pancakes. Sakura hopped up on a stool that stood next to the counter.

"Oh, you are making breakfast this morning?" Sakura asked Boomer.

"You got it. I'm making us some pancakes." Boomer said as he added milk and eggs to the bowl.

"How wonderful. Oh, here is the whisk." Sakura said, passing Damien's whisk over to Boomer with psychic.

"Thanks." Boomer said, whisking the eggs and milk.

"Now for the flour." Boomer said as he started pouring flour from the sack into the bowl.

He added it to the point where Sakura was in questioning.

"Do you not believe that to be enough flour?" Sakura asked.

"No, it needs more." Boomer said, pouring more flour into the mix.

"Boomer, if you add in too much flour, it will rise too high and overflow." Sakura said.

"Hey, who's the chef around here? I already told you, I know what I'm doing, Sakura." Boomer said, asserting his knowledge of cooking.

"Well, you were not the one who has assisted Rose in making pancakes in the past, were you?" Sakura asked.

"How much is there?! There's so much of it!" Rocket shouted from the bathroom.

"Maybe not. I also wasn't the one who made it feel like I was biting into a wet sponge." Boomer quipped in response.

"Stop adding flour!" Sakura yelled, grabbing the flour sack from Boomer.

"Give it!" Boomer yelled, grabbing the other side of the sack.

The two of them pulled the sack in opposite directions and it began to tear. The sack ripped in half, dumping flour all over the countertop and Boomer and Sakura fell over. Boomer knocked the bowl off the counter and onto the floor, breaking it and spilling its contents. They both got up, noticing the mess they made.

"Look at what has happened to Damien's kitchen. Damien will not be pleased about this." Sakura said, motioning towards the giant pile of flour and broken bowl.

"Well maybe next time you'll just butt out and let me do what I do and maybe this won't happen again." Boomer said before scooping a handful of flour and flicking it into Sakura's face.

"Stop it, you fool!" Sakura shouted, wiping the flour off her face with her hands.

"Now help me clean up this mess before…" Sakura was interrupted.

"Hey! What is going on out here?!" Damien shouted.

He was startled awake to the sound of the bowl shattering. He stood outside the kitchen with a metal pipe in his left hand. He saw Sakura and Boomer on the counter covered in flour and the broken pieces of bowl on the floor and sighed in relief, dropping the pipe.

"Thank goodness, I thought we were being robbed or something. What's going on? Are you two alright?" Damien asked them.

"Oh yes, Damien, we are all and well." Sakura said, smiling.

"We were just trying to make pancakes together, that's all." Boomer said before putting his wing around Sakura.

"We'll, I'm glad you guys aren't hurt. Just try not to make so much noise so early in the morning next time. I don't want someone to get hit with something, not that I would do that to any of you guys…" Damien explained while scratching the back of his head.

Rocket walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, wrapped around in toilet paper. He smelled and licked up some of the pancake mix where the bowl broke as everyone looked upon him.

"You were right! Pancakes are awesome!" Rocket happily shouted to Boomer.

* * *

(Lumiose City)

Damien and his pokémon stopped at a café around the city for a quick breakfast, then stopped at a grocery store to replace the bag of flour and toilet paper that was wasted and buy a few other things he needed, since he knew he might as well. Damien walked around with a basket, browsing the shelves and his pokémon were together, walking closely behind. Boomer stayed quiet the entire time they were out. He hovered forward looking down and pouting about his breakfast plan being ruined. Sakura took notice of this.

"Please say something, Boomer. You know that it was not my intention for the pancakes to be ruined." Sakura said.

Boomer gave Sakura no answer.

"When will you cease to be mad at me?" Sakura asked.

"When I make the best pancakes anyone's ever made, that's when! Now get off my back!" Boomer shouted.

Rocket jumped back as Boomer shouted.

"I sincerely apologize, Boomer." Sakura said softly.

"Ugh." Boomer grunted.

"You were correct, I should not have interfered. I hereby swear to you that I will let you make food as you see fit. After all, you are the one with the passion for culinary preparation and I should show better faith in your talents. Could you please forgive me now?" Sakura asked.

Rocket caught sight of the tail of a luxray passing by their aisle with its trainer.

Boomer grumbled. "Fine. We can always make more anyhow. You'd better not interrupt me unless I ask you to though." Boomer said.

"You have my solemn word." Sakura replied.

Boomer gave a faint smile. They both looked around and noticed Rocket was no longer with them.

"Where did Rocket go?" Boomer asked.

* * *

Rocket had followed the same luxray out of the grocery store, catching up to it. Rocket jumped up to catch it on the tip of its tail. The luxray was growing annoyed and pulled its tail away. Rocket still persisted to play around with the luxray and it turned and snarled at Rocket, startling him away. Rocket jolted in the opposite direction along the sidewalk while looking behind him the entire time he ran and rammed into a latter with a bucket of purple paint at the top step. The ladder toppled over and the paint bucket was spilt over a nearby trainer's druddigon, splattering it in purple paint.

* * *

Sakura was in one aisle searching for Rocket.

"Rocket?!" Sakura cried out, trying to call him back.

"Boomer, have you located him on that end?" Sakura asked Boomer.

"No!" Boomer shouted from a few aisles away.

"He could not have gone far, he is…" Sakura said, looking out of the store window.

She saw Rocket being chased down the street by an enraged purple beast.

"Boomer, come to me now!" Sakura shouted as she ran to the front door.

* * *

Rocket was scurrying away from the druddigon with people and pokémon fleeing in different directions from the rampage taking place.

"Druddigon, stop this! It's going to be alright! It's just paint! It'll wash off!" the trainer of the angry druddigon shouted, grabbing hold of its arm and trying to pull it back.

Druddigon knocked its trainer off and continued pursuing after Rocket. The chase went on until rocket was backed into an alley. The druddigon stood before him, making a low pitched snarl before glowing, fast flying leaves burst against its back. Druddigon turned around to see Sakura and boomer at each other's side.

"Leave him be!" Sakura shouted.

Druddigon roared and made a light blue ball of energy in its claws. It swelled to the size of a basketball and the druddigon threw a focus blast at the ground near where Sakura stood. The impact knocked them both away, shattering the concrete pavement that made the sidewalk tiles, leaving a crater in its place and forming a cloud of dust. Boomer got up and saw Druddigon's figure leap through the dust with its right arm raised as its claws glowed light green. Druddigon brought them down to strike Boomer and Sakura hopped in the way and raised her arms up to catch the druddigon's claws. She caught them and the claws made a clashing noise as their momentum was killed right in Sakura's grasp.

"Sakura…" Boomer said.

"I am unharmed, Boomer. Now, move out of the way!" Sakura grunted as she was struggling to hold up the sheer weight of the angry dragon's arm.

Druddigon's claws stopped glowing and it lifted Sakura up by her arms. She made a brief scream at the powerful force of druddigon's grasp before it tossed her into the side of a nearby car. Boomer used double team to duplicate himself around Druddigon. As this was happening, Druddigon looked around itself, not knowing which Boomer was real. Druddigon let out a roar in frustration. Rocket used swift on it while it was distracted and it turned towards him in response. Rocket ran towards it and stopped in front of it.

"Don't hurt Rocket's friends, you meanie!" Rocket shouted angrily at the pokémon.

"Rocket, stop!" Boomer shouted.

Druddigon caught sight of the real Boomer when he spoke. Druddigon unexpectedly grabbed a hold of Boomer and his double team faded.

"Give me a break!" Boomer shouted as he tried to pry himself from Druddigon's claws with his wings.

With its free arm, it swung at Rocket with a dragon claw, which Rocket evaded by jumping over it. Druddigon made a backswing trying to hit Rocket again with the same arm, but Rocket ducked under it. Rocket jumped and tackled Druddigon in the nose, pushing it back slightly and making it lose its grip on Boomer. Boomer landed on his feet and jumped back. Druddigon's tail glowed light green as it was preparing for another strike. It spun around and Rocket took a blow from its glowing tail and was flung three stories into the air.

"Oh no!" Boomer shouted, watching Rocket fall to the ground as he screamed.

Rocket was caught safely in Damien's arms and Sakura was walking to Damien's side, holding her right arm to her body with her left.

"Wow, nice timing." Boomer said, surprised to see Damien.

"Boomer, go up!" Damien shouted.

Boomer jumped and flew over to the roof of the building. Druddigon let out a roar and ran towards Damien.

"Wait for it." Damien said.

They stayed still as the monster was charging maniacally toward them.

"Now, Boomer!" Damien shouted.

Boomer flew downward, carrying a blanket off a clothes hanger and draping it over Druddigon's face. Damien and Sakura cleared the path of the blinded druddigon and it tumbled over a trash can and into the street.

"Sakura, finish it off with psychic!" Damien commanded Sakura.

Sakura lifted the druddigon up with psychic and pushed it into the side of a dumpster, causing the hatch of the dumpster to fall hard on Druddigon's head and knock it unconscious.

* * *

Damien let out a groan. He placed Rocket down on the ground, who looked up and smiled at him, feigning innocence afterwards.

"If you _ever_ wander off like that again, you will be in big trouble, Rocket. Do you understand me?" Damien scolded Rocket.

"Yes, human, I… uh… Damien." Rocket said quietly with his ears down.

"Alright, you're lucky Boomer and Sakura were there to help you. You can't always be so careless or you might not be so lucky in the future. I promised your dad I would keep you safe and I plan to do just that." Damien said to Rocket.

"Are you two okay?" Damien asked Boomer and Sakura.

"Yeah, I'm good." Boomer said.

"My arm is more or less sore but I am unharmed as well otherwise." Sakura said, still clutching her right arm.

"Okay, then let's go to the pokécenter and take a look at it and maybe we can shop for groceries again later." Damien said.

"Wait!" Someone shouted.

It was the trainer of the druddigon. He was running over to Damien and his team.

"Are all of you alright?" the trainer asked, hunched over and catching his breath.

"Yeah, we are. My kirlia's arm is a bit sore though." Damien said.

"Oh my goodness, I'm terribly sorry about all the trouble my druddigon caused." he said to Damien.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" he asked his druddigon sternly.

"Ugh, my bad. I got a little carried away." the druddigon said, regaining consciousness.

"Here, it's the least I can do for you." the man said, handing Damien a hyper potion.

"Oh, thank you." Damien said, accepting the pink spray bottle.

"My druddigon would never mean to do anything that would seriously hurt anyone. Druddigons can get a bit edgy when they go for too long without a good battle, it just can't helped. He looks pretty calm now, maybe you just gave him what he needed." the man said.

"Wait, I've seen you somewhere before. Weren't you the guy who challenged Wikstrom of the Elite Four just a while ago?" Damien asked.

"That's correct." the man replied.

"And this is the same druddigon you used to battle him?" Damien asked.

"Sure is. We might not have won, but we sure put up a hell of a fight, didn't we?" the trainer asked his druddigon.

Druddigon grunted in agreement.

"These are your pokémon?" the trainer asked Damien.

"Yes, this is my kirlia, my noibat and my eevee." Damien replied, motioning to them.

Well, they must be pretty strong to be able to take my pokémon on like that, and with hardly a scratch on them at that. You should be proud of them, they make quite an impressive team." the man told Damien.

"Huh? Wow really? Did you guys hear that?" Damien asked his pokémon.

They showed happy reactions.

"Come on, Druddigon. Let's get you cleaned up." the trainer said as he returned his druddigon to its pokéball and walked off.

"We should be on our way too." Damien said to his pokémon.

* * *

Damien and his pokémon were walking to the pokécenter. Sakura had a handkerchief wrapped in a sling around her sore arm to hold it up.

"That's was so cool! You guys have become so strong in just a matter of weeks, I'm so proud of you!" Damien shouted in excitement.

"We can hardly accept all of the credit, Damien." Sakura said to Damien.

"Though we can try." Boomer said afterwards.

"Boomer…" Sakura said to Boomer, her tone slightly miffed at his retort.

"Ha ha ha hah!" Rocket laughed.

"We might even have a chance to win our first gym battle! I know we can do it!" Damien shouted.

He kept rambling on.

"Boomer?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah?" Boomer asked back.

"Have you noticed the way Damien acted earlier?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, you have to be more specific." Boomer replied.

"I am referring to the example that Damien set for Rocket." Sakura said.

"Oh yeah, right… that." Boomer said.

They stayed silent for a moment as Damien kept rambling.

"I believe Damien seemed rather… fatherly, the manner in which he handled the situation, would you not agree?" Sakura asked.

"He seemed what now?" Boomer asked.

Sakura had her eyes closed and made a blushed smile. Boomer tilted his head in confusion.

"Sure, why not." Boomer said.

"Doesn't that sound great?!" Damien shouted with excitement.

"Oh, what was that? Could you repeat yourself please?" Sakura asked Damien.

"I…!" Damien said, clearing his throat and calming down.

"I was wondering how you would respond if I told you we could participate in the pokémon league. I think it would be quite a fruitful experience for each and every one of us." Damien said.

"How do you figure that?" Boomer asked.

"Well… think about it, Boomer. You can learn all sorts of cooking techniques and maybe even show off your own styles from time to time as we travel, and that's only a _taste_ of what's to come." Damien said, feeling amused with himself.

Boomer flew over Damien.

"Argh! No! Never do that again!" Boomer shouted, jumping up and down on Damien's head.

"Hey! Ow! Ouch! Boomer… get off me!" Damien yelled at the same time.

Boomer stopped jumping on Damien's head and hovered back over to the side.

"I get your point though. If it's anything like you say it is then you can count me in." Boomer said.

"How about you two?" Damien asked Sakura and Rocket while rubbing his head.

"Yup." Rocket said.

"I have no reason to say otherwise, though I would advise you to remain focused on your education in the meantime however." Sakura said.

"Actually, I had been thinking lately that maybe I could take some time off from my education." Damien said.

"Why would you do that?" Sakura asked.

"Well, now that I've learned some of the material that covers journalism and I've had my fill of field work experience, I'm not sure if this is really what I want in life anymore." Damien said.

"But this has been what you have dreamt for all of your life, has it not? Do you not enjoy what you do at the press?" Sakura asked.

"I enjoy it, and I enjoy working with Alexa and the others at the press, but I feel like there's just something else I'm meant for." Damien said.

"Such as…?" Sakura asked.

"Actually, I'm not sure. That's another reason why I thought the Kalos league would be a good idea. While we travel, I could find out what I can do with my life. Who knows? Maybe I'll still want to be a journalist in the end." Damien said.

"Or maybe you'll just write stupid fan fictions and post them on the internet or some crazy thing like that." Boomer said.

"Oh, hah hah. You're hilarious, Boomer." Damien laughed sarcastically.

"Is there anyone else who knows of this?" Sakura asked Damien.

"Some time before my second semester ended, I told my folks that I was beginning to rethink my career. Because of the widely accepted belief that it is best to enroll in a higher education as soon after high school as possible, a lot of people end up reaching the same conclusion as I did. They understood how I felt." Damien explained.

"If your mother and father are accepting of your decision, then I, too, shall be." Sakura said.

"Awesome, so we're all in agreement then. Everyone, we're going on an adventure!" Damien shouted, excitedly raising a fist in the air.

"Great… so what's first on the agenda?" Boomer asked.

"Uh… well, let's figure that out once we get to the pokécenter and we've had a look at everyone." Damien told Boomer.

* * *

(Damien's Apartment)

Damien and his pokémon came home from the pokécenter after finding out that Sakura's arm was slightly fractured upon landing on the car. She was given a sling made of a longer lasting cotton cloth material to support her arm while it heals.

"It looks like maybe we should hold off on battling and training for a bit, Sakura, at least for a while until your fracture heals and we won't need to worry about it as much." Damien said to Sakura.

"I appreciate your concern for me, Damien. I will work especially hard to make up for the time lost." Sakura said.

"So seriously, what are we gonna do?" Boomer asked.

"Easy there, Boomer, I told you we were gonna discuss this after we went to the pokécenter." Damien said before going to his bedroom.

He pulled his laptop out of his case and sat on his bed, opening it up. His pokémon moved next to him on the bed to see what he was looking at. He opened up a schedule that displayed a map and the available days that each gym leader could be challenged on.

"So from what I can tell, Clemont, the electric specialist gym leader, is not available for the next couple of weeks. He's away in the Unova region, visiting the amusement park and trying to unwind. Now he's trying to work with Elesa to fix something broken there. Tough break." Damien said.

"Knowing his natural grace, I'd say he was probably the one who broke it." Boomer scoffed.

"Yeah, right?" Damien chuckled.

"Wulfric is available all week. His gym is out in Snowbelle, which is sort of close to here." Damien said.

"Snowbelle? What kinds of creatures would that gym specialize in?" Sakura asked.

"Ice-type, of course." Damien answered.

"I'm out." Boomer said, raising his wings in the air.

"What?" Damien asked.

"You heard me, find someone else to fight that guy." Boomer said.

"Bud ,come on." Damien said, smiling and nudging boomer's side.

"No. Don't 'bud, come on' me. Remember what happened when I fought Rocket's mom?" Boomer asked.

"You only got the tip of your wing frozen, Boomer." Damien stated.

"I only got like the literal worst pain in my life. I mean it. It _sucked_. It's not happening." Boomer said adamantly.

"Fine, we'll just skip him for now then. That just leaves the psychic-type gym in Anistar, the rock-type gym in Cyllage, the fighting-type gym in Shalour and the bug-type gym in Santalune, which is run by Alexa's sister, Viola." Damien said.

"So where do you guys think we should go?" Damien asked his pokémon.

"It seems to me as if the gym in Santalune is in the shortest distance to us now. I believe that would be our best option in terms of timing." Sakura explained while pointing to the screen.

"Plus it would be pretty sick to see the look on Viola's face when her pokémon get whipped by her sister's dopey intern with the help of his awesome partner." Boomer said as he pompously crossed his wings.

"Bud, that does sound pretty sick." Damien said to Boomer.

"Hmph." Boomer grunted, raising his head high.

"What do you say? Do you want to help me win against Viola, my awesome partner?" Damien asked Sakura, raising his left hand for her to high five him just to tease Boomer.

"Huh?" Boomer grunted.

"I would help bring you to victory through the entire league, Damien." Sakura said, hugging Damien's side and nuzzling his face unexpectedly.

"Whoa." Damien said, taken aback by Sakura's sudden affection.

"What is with you today?" Boomer asked Sakura.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked Boomer back innocently.

She did not get an answer from him.

"We should leave tomorrow if we want to catch Viola at the right time. Rocket, how does that sound to you?" Damien asked Rocket, who was no longer on the bed with him.

"Let's go beat up some other pokémon!" Rocket shouted from the closet in Damien's bedroom.

"That's the spirit. We leave for Santalune tomorrow." Damien said.

Damien heard rustling of plastic wrappers coming from the closet.

"Oh dear Arceus. Rocket, get away from that box!" Damien shouted, getting up and running to his closet with a face blushed from embarrassment.

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 **Okay, I am now caught up to where I finished writing before posting the story and now Damien and his team are going to Santalune to face off against Viola. THIS is something I would like some suggestions on. I have an idea on how it would go down but I want to see if there are any ideas that would make that fight more interesting. Would Sakura's arm fracture be healed enough or would it effect the battle in any way? Really, feel free to pile it on, every little bit counts.**

 **Unrelated Note: For my fellow Mericans out there, unlike in the United States where milk comes in 1 gallon plastic jugs, milk comes in 1 liter plastic bags in Canada.**


	14. Chapter 14 - Preparation

**Woohoo! I'm back from the dead and I found a little cover image that fell from Heaven** **and into Purgatory and I brought it back with me! Just a little something to celebrate absolutely nothing because it's too freaking soon for it but I just couldn't wait to upload it any longer! Really though, some of you guys have been messaging me to update soon and I couldn't blame you if I wanted to. A few month's time for one measly chapter is not what I call proper writers etiquette, sheesh. Maybe now that I have one less thing to worry about… I'm not sure. Whatcha gonna do about it?**

 **This was originally going to be the gym battle chapter, but I try to not go so far over 4k or 5k words per chapter, I like to keep things consistent. So if I need more chapters then so be it. It hardly makes a difference anyhow. There is a lot going on regarding this one gym battle right now and I think I should give you guys at least something in the meantime anyways, so while I'm working on the gym battle you can enjoy this chapter chock full of cutesy stuff. Oops.**

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 **Preparation**

(Santalune City)

Damien and his pokémon had walked from Lumiose City to Santalune City the morning after and had much of the day still available to them after they arrived. Rather than taking full advantage of the time so he could train his pokémon immediately, Damien decided to treat them with a tour around the city first. They visited the park and tossed a disc around back and forth for a while. When they got all tired out Damien took them to a bakery and bought them all poképuffs. After they were finished with their poképuffs Damien went to the ice cream parlor next door and bought himself a cotton candy swirl flavored ice cream cone.

He sat outside at a table under the patio and Sakura was sitting in the chair to his left as he was eating. They were watching as Boomer and Rocket were messing around. Boomer was sitting on the table and he had a laser pointer which he shined a red dot all over with and Rocket was chasing after it.

"Rocket heard you were talking smack! Get back over here!" Rocket shouted at the red dot as it evaded him in his effort to capture it.

Rocket almost ran into other people and pokémon a few times but that did not stop his relentless pursuit after the evil tiny red spec. Boomer shined the laser into some hedges nearby and Rocket dove in after it.

"Rocket's gonna get you, just you wait and see!" Rocket shouted intensely.

Boomer and Damien snickered at Rocket as he was rustling through the hedges for the laser that was no longer there. Sakura also giggled at this.

"Damien, would you please tell me when we would be able to issue a challenge to the gym leader?" Sakura asked Damien.

"Viola said I would have a time slot sometime in the afternoon tomorrow to challenge her when I called her up. So around noon time we should show up and be ready for the battle." Damien explained.

"How is your arm feeling now?" Damien asked Sakura.

"My arm hardly pains me as it did yesterday, though now I do feel an awful itch where it was fractured." Sakura said as she rubbed her right arm softly.

"Yeah, that will happen when you get a fracture. I had one once when I hit my pinkie with a rock while I was helping my mom with gardening. I could swear that it was smashed to pieces it hurt so much, but it turned out it was only a little fracture. It was itching like crazy after it stopped hurting and when that was all over with I never had to worry about it again. So that means you shouldn't need to worry about your fracture that much longer. You still amaze me with how quickly you recover from your injuries, Sakura. You always have ever since I've known you." Damien said.

"I believe that would likely be due to the care you provide us with whenever we are troubled in any way. You have, after all, been quite attentive to my arm since it has been injured." Sakura said, smiling.

Damien smiled back.

"I think it's time we sprayed a little more potion on your arm. Would you mind holding this for me?" Damien asked as he held the ice cream to Sakura.

"Why, not at all." Sakura said, taking hold the ice cream with psychic.

Damien was searching his bag for the potion bottle he was going to use to spray Sakura's arm with. Sakura looked at the ice cream as it began to melt in the heat, causing it to sparkle slightly. She found it adorable how its pink and blue colors nearly matched hers.

"Found it." Damien said as he pulled the potion out of his bag.

"I'll take that, thank you." Damien said, taking the ice cream from Sakura.

Sakura took her right arm out of her sling and held it forward so that Damien could spray it. Damien sprayed Sakura's arm a few times and let the potion sit for a minute so it could be absorbed into her skin. The potion caused Sakura no more pain since the fracture on her arm was kept so healthy. Sakura looked at the ice cream again as the potion was soaking in. The ice cream was starting to trickle down its waffle cone.

"Okay, I think that's good for now. We can do this again later today." Damien said while he wiped the excess potion off of Sakura's arm with a napkin and put the sling back on.

Damien noticed Sakura was staring at the ice cream as it continued to melt.

"You've had ice cream before, haven't you, Sakura?" Damien asked.

"I… uh… I have not. I have never been so intrigued by ice cream before now." Sakura admitted.

"Well, would you like to try some of mine?" Damien asked Sakura, holding the ice cream to her with his left hand.

Sakura stared at the ice cream briefly, then looked up at Damien's eyes.

"It's pokémon friendly." Damien chanted as he shook the ice cream cone side to side.

"Oh Damien, it would be my pleasure to try." Sakura answered with a smile, putting her left hand to her chest.

She leaned forward and examined the blue and pink colors a bit once more before she took a small lick out of the ice cream. Sakura was surprised as she was met by this cold, unfamiliar flavor. Damien started to move the ice cream away from Sakura, but she quickly grabbed hold of his hand and pulled it back to her, enjoying the ice cream some more.

"Whoa, you really like that ice cream." Damien said, laughing a bit.

Sakura stopped licking the ice cream and looked up to Damien. She put on a guilty face, realizing what she did.

"Damien, I… I did not intend to take this from you, I…" Sakura said apologetically.

"It's okay, Sakura. I'm glad you like that ice cream. Enjoy it." Damien said as he smiled.

"You mean…?" Sakura asked, all but certain of his gesture.

"You may finish it? Yes." Damien finished.

" _Kirlia!_ " Sakura shouted audibly at a high pitch, clenching her fists and shaking them excitedly near her face.

She gently took the ice cream cone and licked it up vigorously.

"Ice cream is wonderful. I love it so. Thank you, Damien." Sakura said as she was enjoying the ice cream to its fullest.

"You're welcome, Sakura." Damien said, happy to see Sakura so excited about her new favorite treat.

Rocket chased the laser to the other side of the parlor's sidewalk and bumped into a woman's shopping bag, causing it to fall and knock over.

"Hey! Whose eevee is this?!" the woman shouted angrily.

Damien let out a sigh.

* * *

Damien and his pokémon left the parlor and went to an accessory store to buy a yellow collar and an adjustable leash for Rocket to keep him out of trouble. To Damien's surprise, Rocket actually enjoyed being leashed, possibly since he did not know what purpose it served yet. They walked around the city some more to see if there was something else they would like to do before they looked for a place to train. They were passing through the plaza.

"Damien?" a voice called out.

Damien and his pokémon turned their heads to where the call came from. They saw a lady with green eyes and blonde hair that curled inwards. She wore a white crop top, green denim cuff bracelets, green long shorts with many large pockets on the sides, grey high tops with green laces, and had a large photographic camera suspended by a purple lanyard around her neck and a small green purse.

"Viola." Damien said as he smiled.

"Oh my goodness, it's so good to see you. Long time no see, am I right?" Viola asked, walking up to Damien and opening her arms.

"I know, right? I didn't think I was going to see you until tomorrow. How have things been?" Damien asked as Viola met him with a hug.

"I'm doing great. Still doing the gym battles and photo-shoots and all. Y'know, the fun stuff." Viola answered.

"What about you? Alexa told me your internship with her ended." Viola said.

"Yeah, it's too bad. I had fun working with her at the press. It's hard to believe how much you can learn just from working there for a month." Damien said.

"I'm going to miss seeing you when I visit the HQ." Viola said.

"Hey, it's not like I'm never going back there, you know. My apartment isn't too far. I can always stop in whenever I'm around." Damien said.

"True, and at least now I don't have to worry about you replacing me as Alexa's lead photographer." Viola teased.

"Aw, come on, Viola, you know I only edit the media." Damien said, feeling flattered.

Sakura tugged at Damien's pant leg.

"What is it, Sakura?" Damien asked Sakura.

"You two are friends?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, Viola and I are friends. She would come and visit Alexa at the press once a week." Damien said to Sakura.

Being unable to hear Sakura's telepathic speech, it seemed to Viola as if Damien was only the only one speaking at the moment. She was trying to fight back laughter.

"Damien, are you talking to your pokémon? That's so cute." Viola said, entertained by this.

"Oh, right, telepathy. I can actually have discussions with my pokémon. You know about telepathy, right?" Damien asked Viola.

"Yeah, I've heard about it a few times. I never really got to experience it for myself. That must be really something." Viola said.

"You got that right." Damien said with a slight chuckle.

"I oughta introduce you to my pokémon." Damien said.

He looked behind him where Rocket was playing with a plastic bag that was being blown around by the wind. Damien gave a light tug on Rocket's leash to grab his attention.

"Rocket, come over here and say hi to Viola, little man." Damien said to Rocket.

Rocket walked right over to Viola and looked up at her with a big smile while wagging his tail.

"Hi there." Viola said, crouching over and petting Rocket on the head.

"So this my eevee. His name is Rocket and he's the newest member of my team. He's not exactly the most focused one of my pokémon but you gotta admire his enthusiasm and holy smokes, you would be surprised how brave this little guy can be." Damien said.

Rocket rolled over on his back as Viola was petting him. Viola laughed.

"This one is Sakura. She's a kirlia that I found out in Ambrette city's forest just a month ago. Since then, she's been very supportive and encouraging… and very pink. I'm proud to have her with me." Damien said while looking to Sakura, who looked back at him happily.

"A pink kirlia, huh? That's something you don't see every day. Can I have a closer look?" Viola asked, crouching near Sakura to examine her.

Sakura cautiously backed away from Viola and hid behind Damien's leg. Viola was startled by this.

"Sakura is sort of shy around people she doesn't know." Damien said, petting Sakura's head to comfort her.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Viola said.

"It's okay, and of course you remember Boomer here." Damien said while motioning to Boomer, who was hovering to his left.

"Of course I remember you, Boomer. I haven't seen you in forever either. How are you doing?" Viola said excitedly while scratching Boomer's head.

"Aw yeah, that's the spot." Boomer said as he was enjoying being scratched.

"So I take it pokémon training is going well for you this time around." Viola said to Damien.

"Yeah, it is. I'm really glad I stuck with my gut on this. I expect great things from all of them." Damien said.

"It's good to hear you say that, because I look forward to seeing what you and your pokémon are made of tomorrow." Viola said eagerly.

"Just have that camera ready, because you won't be disappointed." Damien said confidently.

"I like that new fighter spirit of yours, Damien. Keep it up, because you're gonna be needing it." Viola said.

"So, what are you up to now?" Damien asked Viola.

"Oh, I had a long photo-shoot this morning and I just got done having a hard training session with my pokémon." Viola answered.

"Sounds like a busy day." Damien said.

Yeah, no kidding. Now I'm gonna go home and take a shower and head out to dinner afterwards then call it for tonight." Viola said.

"That sounds like a good idea. We just got done eating and now we need to find a place to train ourselves. Where would you recommend we go?" Damien asked.

"I would say the best place to train would be Parterre Way out on Route 4, just a short walk north from here. You probably passed it on the way down." Viola answered.

"Yeah I know where that is, it's the place with the giant fountain." Damien said.

"Yup, there's a wide grassy field just around there that would be perfect for training. You train there and I'm sure you'll be prepared for our match tomorrow." Viola said.

"Alright then, thanks a bunch, Viola." Damien said.

"You got it, bucko. I'm gonna get going now. See you at the gym tomorrow." Viola said.

"Yep, I'll see you too. Have a good night, Viola." Damien said.

"Goodnight, Damien." Viola said as she waved and turned, walking away.

"Come on, guys, it's time we did some training." Damien said to his pokémon.

* * *

(Route 4)

Damien and his pokémon walked a short distance to Parterre Way, where they met the familiar sight of the a large grass field that was down in an even larger round dip in the earth that was outlined with a split pathway that went all the way around and continued up to Lumiose City as it met the other side. In the middle of that field was a wide fountain and benches surrounding it. There were a small handful of trainers with their pokémon that were also there for training. Damien thought perhaps they were also training to do battle against Viola.

Damien sat down on a bench and looked on his laptop for ways to battle against bug-type pokémon. Though he had no way of knowing what exact bug-type pokémon Viola would use, he decided he wanted to be prepared for anything. He found that Boomer had the greatest advantage when dealing with them. He also thought to consider his encounter with the bug pokémon he fought near home so he used rope to simulate any web based attacks. Damien trained with each of his pokémon individually and two hours have passed before they all decided they had enough. Damien figured they had done all that they could to be ready for the match the next day and the sky was beginning to turn dark, so they all agreed on leaving for the pokécenter and calling it a day.

* * *

(Santalune Pokécenter)

After renting a room from the pokécenter, Damien and his pokémon left for dinner at an italian eatery that serves both people and pokémon before they came back to the pokécenter at night with full stomachs.

"Ugh. I don't think I should've eaten all of that macaroni salad." Boomer grunted as he sat on the bed, holding his swollen stomach painfully.

"I told you that you didn't need to finish it all tonight. We could have just boxed it up so you could finish it tomorrow." Damien said as he placed styrofoam boxes of food in the room's mini fridge.

"And I told you that it's never as good when it's reheated. Aw man, was it good." Boomer said, groaning.

"Well, just count yourself lucky you still fit inside your dang pokéball even after you stuff yourself like crazy. I wouldn't want to be carrying two pokémon home." Damien said.

"Yeah, whatever. Can you return me for tonight?" Boomer asked Damien.

"To your ball? When was the last time you slept in your pokéball? Are you sure about that?" Damien asked back.

"Do I look like a noibat who wants to sleep on a freaking coat rack right now? Come on, bud, I ain't got all night here." Boomer retorted.

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then. You did a good job today, Boomer." Damien said right before he pushed the button on Boomer's pokéball and returned him.

"Rocket, are you good there?" Damien asked Rocket, who was laying in the middle of the bed on his side.

Rocket responded by stretching and sprawling himself on the bed happily.

"I guess that answers my question." Damien said, laughing.

Damien got into bed and pulled the blanket over him.

"Sakura, are you coming?" Damien asked Sakura, who was petting Rocket's head dotingly.

Sakura looked to Damien.

"Oh, yes. I will be with you momentarily." Sakura said before she stopped petting Rocket and crawled up to Damien's left side and got underneath the blanket.

"Damien." Sakura said.

"Yes?" Damien asked.

"I feel I am able to take the sling off now. Would you please help me remove it?" Sakura asked back.

"Sure." Damien answered, reaching for Sakura's shoulder and unclasped the strap, allowing the sling to fall off.

Sakura moved her right arm around, feeling pleased to be able to move it freely again.

"It's feeling much better now, isn't it?" Damien asked, smiling.

"Indeed. I feel certain that we have no more need to concern ourselves with the fracture. In addition, I am able to do _this_ once again." Sakura said.

Sakura lied down and rolled over, snuggling Damien's side and resting her cheek against his shoulder. They looked into each other's eyes in silence, smiling at one another.

"I know you guys are going to do great tomorrow. I'll be proud of you no matter what happens." Damien encouragingly said.

"Thank you." Sakura said with an endeared smile.

Damien kissed Sakura lightly on the forehead.

"Get some sleep, Sakura, we have a big day tomorrow." Damien said.

Sakura laid her head on his chest and started to drift to sleep. Damien, feeling Sakura's happiness like it was his own, also drifted to sleep happily.

* * *

(Damien's POV)

Today is the day, the day that I challenge Viola to a gym battle. I gotta say, just the thought that I'm now walking with my pokémon beside me to the building where our first gym battle takes place has my heart pumping a few more beats than usual. It makes me excited to think that I get to face off with a league official for the first time ever, and against someone I know none the less. Though at the same time, this makes me nervous, considering this is Viola I'm talking about. She seems like the kind of person who would teach someone to swim by shoving them in the water immediately. If that kind of analogy applies here then I can't afford to make mistakes during this battle. I already trained them a little more after breakfast just to be sure that yesterday's training was effective.

(Earlier)

We were sitting at a picnic table just outside the pokécenter and enjoying our breakfast when I announced that we were going to recap what we learned from our training session last night.

"What? That's the reason you woke us up so early?" Boomer asked me before angrily biting down into an English muffin.

"We want to be as ready as we can be for this battle. We should do a small recap of what we went over yesterday." I explained to Boomer.

"I concur." Sakura chimed in.

"Zip it." Boomer grunted at Sakura, startling her.

The interactions those two have sometimes, it's like what I would assume is a brother, sister relationship. They both have different takes on what should be done in a given situation and they both end up butting heads. Rocket on the other hand is like the youngest brother who isn't self-reliant, he's the one who wants to learn from others so that he can make his own decisions someday. That, along with him being an eevee, is why there is no limit to what he can accomplish, the ideal pokémon in my opinion. I just hope he doesn't misinterpret something and have it affect him negatively later on.

Despite what some would say, I would sometimes wish I had a sibling of my own for those same reasons. I had some flawed ideas in the past and my hypothetical sibling might have had better judgement that might have made the outcome more desirable. That's not to say I regret being an only child, I'm quite pleased with my life now and the choices I make, considering that most of them are for a good cause. Plus, my pokémon can steer me in the right direction whenever they aren't, so who needs siblings?

"Fine, point taken. Let's do this training stuff _again_." Boomer said, feeling a bit annoyed.

Pfft… what a whiner.

And so we waited fifteen minutes after we finished breakfast to let the food settle. We stayed outside the pokécenter and did a little training in the courtyard just to be sure they remembered everything from the night before. After an hour or two we finished up and began our walk to the gym.

(Present Time)

Looking back on it now, I have no idea what exact pokémon Viola's going to put me up against. Because of that, it was difficult for me to come up with any real strategies for the match. That was out of my control, however I usually try to use the environment to my advantage in a battle and I missed the opportunity to see what the inside of her gym looks like. Dang it, Damien. Why did you not stop there immediately after you arrived at the city, you friggin idiot?! This gym battle is the whole reason we walked all the way down here and you didn't even make it a priority to… no, no, I shouldn't beat myself up over this. My pokémon deserved a rest and I had no way of knowing about the gym being closed so early that day. I don't think I messed up entirely by not doing that, but it really would have helped if I did. What's done is done. Now, more than anything, I need to focus on what's coming our way and how to deal with the hand dealt. At least it's a nice sunny day out and hey… the gym is right up ahead!

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 **I have the whole gym battle planned and I already have some of it done, so I'm thinking it shouldn't take too long to complete, especially since I'm going to get to work on it right after I post this. I just decided to cut the super chapter in half at that point and give you this now. Maybe I'm working on it as you're reading this, so long as some other worldly inconvenience hasn't decided to smack me on the head or something. XP**

 **Oh, and thank you guys for your patience.**

 **Disclaimer: Viola is owned by the Pokémon company, not myself.**

 **Semi-related Note: Queen-Zelda on DArt helped me with my cover image and it got me so pumped during the process. =D**


	15. Chapter 15 - Lessons

**Well, that was quicker than I thought. Allow me a moment to ramble about my disposition towards battle scenes once again. What I do when making a battle scene is I pull up Bulbapedia and/or Serebii and decide which pokémon the main character's would be fighting against, then I research what their moves and abilities are (and sometimes, but not always, even stats) for the sake of staying true to the franchise. I also write the scenario out depending on who is battling who and since this one happens to be a gym battle, I was faced with a whole new kind of scenario. In the anime, gym battles are quite possibly the most elaborate and unique kinds of battles and as such, I do research on the gym leader's personalities and strategies along the** **pokémon I make them use to decide the course of the battle and the final result. So now imagine the amount of satisfaction I get out of writing a gym battle.**

 **I will admit this was a pretty intense chapter though and I think I did it quite well and I might have even enjoyed it to an extent, so I'll cut the battle scenes some slack. This might have been too intense though, it's not exactly cutesy like the last chapter was, in fact it's more intense than I thought it would end up. I'm sure you'll end up liking it though.**

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 **Lessons**

(Santalune Gym)

Damien and his pokémon arrived at the gym and stood at the entrance. Damien looked at the sign labeled **GYM** above the door and he drew a deep breath.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Damien said as he reached for the door handle.

Before Damien could make contact with the door, it burst open and nearly hit him but he jumped out of the way in time. Out came a trainer running and cradling a darumaka that was covered in cuts, bruises and dirt and was clearly in pain.

"It's gonna be okay, Darumaka, I'm gonna get you to the pokécenter, pronto!" the trainer said in hysteria.

Seeing a fire-type, a pokémon that supposedly has an advantage over bug-type pokémon leave the gym in that condition, as well as the look on that trainer's face made Damien's confidence slump. Sakura tugged at Damien's pant leg and he looked down at her. Sakura gave him a confident smile and a nod to reassure him and Damien nodded back at her in response and got his head back together. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it back and entered the gym with his pokémon.

* * *

As Damien walked into the gym, he first noticed the battlefield dead in center of the room. The battlefield was recessed into the floor and there were steps on both the front and back sides that led down to it. The ground was comprised of dirt and was surrounded by stone retention walls where people could stand over and watch. The roof was made of glass and it filtered sunlight into the room and the walls on the sides had small windows and trees and other plant life that ran along them and at the back of the room was another door.

He continued to look around the room a little more, then heard the door behind him open. In came a green-eyed woman with brunette hair, with some of that hair curling inward and somehow sticking out in front her. She was wearing a skin-tight red and black shirt, a clip-belt with a camera case attached to the back, gray skinny-jeans and brown boots. She came in and walked in front of Damien.

"Alexa?" Damien asked the woman, surprised to see her.

"Damien, fancy meeting you here." Alexa said happily.

The two hugged.

"What are you doing here?" Damien asked.

"Viola called me the other night and told me you would be challenging her, so I finished my reporting this morning, took the rest of the day off and drove down to see you two battle. I wasn't planning on missing this for the world." Alexa said.

"Oh, cool." Damien replied.

"Alexa!" Boomer shouted, flying in to hug Alexa.

"Hey, Boomer! Aww, how have you been?! I haven't seen you in so long!" Alexa shouted at a high pitch voice, happy to see Boomer as they nuzzled together.

"Boomer's been a great help to me, and now he's gonna help me win against your sister." Damien said confidently.

"You sound so sure of yourself there." Alexa said.

"What do you mean?" Damien asked.

"Hmph." Alexa huffed while crossing her arms and smiling.

"My sister's no pushover. She's a real force to reckon with. Make one false move and she's gonna tear you apart for it." Alexa stated.

"Right, of course she would. So is there any advice you can offer me before the battle starts?" Damien asked.

"Viola is a gym leader known for her resourcefulness and tendencies to trap her opponents, so I highly advise that you avoid her attacks and keep track of how…" Alexa was saying before she trailed off and took a good look at Sakura, who was standing at Damien's side looking at her.

Sakura was confused as to why this woman was staring at her the way she was.

"That kirlia… it's the one from that incident in Ambrette, isn't it?" Alexa incredulously asked.

"Yeah?" Damien answered, confused by Alexa's shift in tone.

Alexa stayed silent.

"What's this about?" Damien finally asked.

"I'm… not sure it was such a wise decision to take it along with you." Alexa answered hesitantly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Damien asked, slightly raising his voice.

"People have been looking for that kirlia, Damien. It's not safe to be around and you've taken an awful risk keeping it with you." Alexa answered.

Sakura buried her face into Damien's leg, feeling guilty and ashamed. Damien felt this shameful feeling coming from her.

"Alright, hold up a minute. First off, it's a _she_ , and her name is Sakura. Second, what was I supposed to do? Leave her in Ambrette with a bunch of people she doesn't know? And third, we've been walking around all over for over a month now and we haven't had a single problem with anyone wanting to take her. That whole business has blown over. Sakura is going to be alright now." Damien explained as he was stroking Sakura's hair.

"Is that what you think? You think that whole business with Cutter just subsided because no one's seen or heard from him in a month?" Alexa asked.

"I've been a reporter for many years, Damien. Believe me when I tell you that every day you spend with that kirlia is another day your life is at risk. Something bad is going to come your way and you won't even see it coming so long as you stand between them and that pokémon." Alexa sternly explained to Damien as she pointed at Sakura.

Sakura began to sob into Damien's leg and he felt his eyes well up as her sadness waved over him.

" _Back off, Alexa!_ " Damien shouted angrily at Alexa for all it was worth.

Alexa took a few steps backwards, totally blown away. She had never seen Damien so assertive before. Damien crouched down and cradled Sakura in his arms to comfort her.

"Sakura isn't like other pokémon. It's strange, but I have a feeling like there's… no, I know there's more to her than meets the eye. Even if what you said was true, Sakura and I have a connection and now she needs me more than anyone else, and damn it, I need her too. There's no way around it, Alexa. I'm not giving Sakura up no matter the cost." Damien said as he was calming down.

Sakura calmed down a bit as well and snuggled Damien's chest, still feeling sad, but feeling a little better from his effort to justify and defend her the same.

"Damien… I had no idea." Alexa said, feeling guilty and empathetic.

"Heeeeeey!" a voice shouted from all the way across the room.

Everyone looked to the direction it came from and saw Viola and the referee standing at the back door.

"Hey!" Alexa shouted excitedly, nearly running through the battle field over to Viola.

Viola walked to Alexa as well and met her with a hug.

"How was your drive down?" Viola asked.

"It was heavenly, Viola. When it's this gorgeous out, it's hard not to enjoy it." Alexa answered.

"Yeah, I'm so glad this gym has a glass roof so I don't have to miss out on such a beautiful day." Viola said looking to the sky.

"You're lucky, if only my office had a glass roof…" Alexa said.

"As much as I do enjoy this conversation you and I are having, I don't think your intern came all this way just to watch us chat the day away." Viola said to Alexa as they both faced Damien.

"Damien, are you ready for our battle now?" Viola called to Damien.

"Huh? Yeah, of course. Let's do this thing already." Damien said, placing Sakura back on the floor.

* * *

Viola and Damien were in their places on the battlefield. The referee was standing on the sideline, Sakura was sitting on the steps that led to Damien's side of the field and Alexa was standing behind the retention wall watching over the battle.

"The gym battle between Damien the challenger and Viola the Santalune gym leader will now begin! Each side will have the use of two pokémon and the battle will be over when either trainer's pokémon are unable to continue! Only the challenger may substitute pokémon!" the referee announced.

"My lens is always focused on victory no matter what. Surskit let's go!" Viola shouted, tossing a pokéball into the air.

The pokéball opened and a ray of white light came out, forming a surskit.

"A surskit. From what I recall, that's a bug and water-type, isn't it?" Damien asked.

"That's correct. Very astute of you as always, Damien. So who's it gonna be?" Viola asked.

"Hm… Alright, I choose you, Boomer!" Damien shouted, throwing Boomer's pokéball into the air and releasing him.

"You decided to go with Boomer, huh? Alright then, let's see what you've learned in a month's time." Viola said.

"A water-type, eh? Good, that'll make mopping the floor with you much easier for me." Boomer taunted.

"Boomer, is it? I've been told you're a noibat known for his appetites. If that's the case then I want you to tell me how your own words will taste when this battle ends." the surskit taunted back.

Boomer snarled.

"Boomer, let's start this off with razor wind!" Damien shouted.

Boomer's wings glowed white before he flapped them and sent glowing sickle shaped wind blasts towards Surskit.

"Surskit, use agility and dodge it!" Viola shouted.

Surskit skated along the ground in a fast blur of blue and dodged Boomer's attack. Surskit was skating around on her side of the field rapidly, trying lose Boomer's focus.

"That speed… this could pose a problem." Damien thought to himself.

"Boomer, use tailwind and keep up with that surskit!" Damien shouted.

Boomer flapped his wings a few times, creating a backdraft from behind him.

"Surskit, use sticky web on him!" Viola shouted.

Surskit shot a ball of webbing at Boomer from out of her antenna, which he avoided. Boomer looked back at the roof where the web struck, creating a fully spread web on impact. Boomer looked back at surskit, who was shooting more webs at him, which he barely managed to evade.

"Boomer is more capable at dodging attacks than I anticipated. Well done, Damien." Viola told Damien.

"Thanks, though I hope you're not trying to flatter me out of victory." Damien joked.

"I'm a gym leader, remember? Being professional is what we're all about." Viola teased.

"Surskit, use your signal beam!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired a pink sparkling ray of light at Boomer that splashed against him, pushing him back. Being a bug-type move, Boomer was resistant to it but it clearly still affected him.

"Are you okay, Boomer?! Try using double team to lose their focus!" Damien shouted.

Boomer made his projections and scrambled them around, circling the surskit.

"Surskit, use your signal beam again on all of them!" Viola shouted.

Surskit began spinning in place while firing her signal beam in the opposite direction of the path Boomer's projections were flying in, destroying most of them.

"Now, Boomer, focus yourself and use hurricane!" Damien shouted.

"Hurricane?!" Viola shouted in surprise.

Boomer got close in front of Surskit, flapping his wings rapidly and sent a strong current of wind beneath Surskit, blowing her off the ground, into the air and hitting the ground.

"Yes!" Sakura shouted excitedly.

"Surskit, hang in there! You can do it!" Viola shouted.

Surskit was slowly picking herself off the ground with her skinny legs.

"Aw yeah! Boomer, finish it with razor wind!" Damien shouted.

Boomer raised his wings as they started glowing, but just before he could use razor wind, the tail wind faded. Boomer got startled and his wings stopped glowing.

"Oh no!" Damien shouted.

"Oh yes! Surskit, use agility again and circle around Boomer!" Viola shouted.

Surskit took off in a blue blur and skated circles around Boomer.

"Boomer, use tailwind again!" Damien shouted.

Boomer flapped his wings to make another tailwind form.

"Oh no you don't. Surskit, use sticky web!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired a ball of web that stuck to Boomer's legs and weighed him to the ground and stuck him in place before he could use tailwind.

"Ah!" Damien shouted.

"Okay, Surskit, use signal beam!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired off multiple signal beams at Boomer as she was circling him, doing a little damage with each splash. Boomer was getting angry.

"Quit it!" Boomer snarled, trying to break loose from the web while he was taking fire.

"Damien, signal beam is an attack that confuses the target pokémon! You need to get Boomer free from that web!" Alexa shouted at Damien from the side.

"Hey, whose side are you on?!" Viola shouted at Alexa.

"Boomer, use razor wind on the web to cut yourself loose!" Damien shouted.

Boomer's wings glowed and he furiously flapped them near his legs, cutting the webs loose with razor wind. Now free from the web, Boomer acted on his own, flying towards Surskit. Viola smiled.

"Boomer, what do you think you're doing?!" Damien shouted, confused by Boomer's bravado.

"Showing that pond scum what happens when you mess with _the coolest guy in the sky_!" Boomer shouted intensely as he was flying in.

"Oh no…" Alexa muttered to herself, dropping her face in her right hand.

"What you are doing is folly, Boomer!" Sakura shouted.

"The time has come. Surskit, use your picture perfect ice beam, now!" Viola shouted.

"What?!" both Damien and Boomer shouted in shock.

Surskit's antenna glowed light blue and Boomer stopped flying towards her, halting in place. With his look of fury quickly replaced with a look of surprise, he was now trying desperately to fly backwards.

"Boomer!" Damien shouted.

Surskit fired the ice beam directly at Boomer.

"Oh shi-!" Boomer shouted before he became fully encased in ice.

Surskit nonchalantly skated up to Boomer's frozen body and looked at him.

"Hmph, _the_ _coolest guy in the sky_ … you got that right." Surskit mocked.

"Noibat is unable to battle! Surskit wins!" the referee announced.

* * *

"Damien, Boomer's maneuverability and arsenal are very impressive and yes, my surskit does have a disadvantage when it comes to typing, but you need to consider what moves your opponent's pokémon might know to counteract such a disadvantage and be constantly diligent about it. Also, you should teach Boomer to keep a better hold of his head. I know it's difficult for him, given that he wasn't your pokémon to begin with, but it's not impossible. There's no question that you can teach him." Viola told Damien.

"I see. Okay, Boomer, you did great. It's time for you to take a rest." Damien said, aiming Boomer's pokéball at him.

"Wait!" Viola shouted.

"What?" Damien asked, still holding the pokéball up.

"Before you return Boomer, can I take a quick picture of him? His face is absolutely priceless." Viola said, smiling eagerly.

"Is it really _that_ good?" Damien asked curiously, lowering Boomer's pokéball and walking over to Viola.

Alexa and Sakura joined in. Damien got a close look at Boomer within the ice as his jaw was dropped from screaming and his blinking eyes were the only things still moving.

"You know, it actually is kind of funny now that you think of it." Alexa said, grinning.

Damien and Sakura failed to hide their own smiles as well. Boomer's eyes were darting around, looking at all of them.

"Okay, everyone, move out of the way. Surskit, get into place." Viola ordered, holding the camera up.

Everyone who could move moved so only Surskit and Boomer were in the shot. Surskit stood up proudly as Viola snapped the picture.

"Wow, this might be your best pic yet, Surskit." Viola said as she looked at the camera screen.

"Sorry, Boomer, you know how it is though." Viola apologized.

"Okay, Boomer, return." Damien said, returning Boomer to his pokéball and the ice he was in with it.

Damien looked at Boomer's pokéball for a moment.

"What's up, Damien? Still feel like finishing our battle?" Viola asked.

"I don't want to leave Boomer frozen like this, even if he is inside his pokéball. Last I checked, I don't even have anything specifically for this." Damien said.

"If you want, I could take him over to the pokécenter for you." Alexa suggested.

"Oh. Thanks, Alexa." Damien said.

"No problem." Alexa said, taking Boomer's pokéball.

"Just let me know how the match ends." Alexa requested as she was walking out of the gym.

"Will do." Damien replied as Alexa walked out the door.

"Aw man, he is gonna be _so_ pissed when he gets out of that ice." Damien said while chuckling.

"You have one more pokémon for this match, Damien. Choose it wisely." Viola said.

"Surskit is looking in pretty rough shape." Damien thought to himself while looking at Surskit, who was moving less steadily.

Damien pulled out Rocket's pokéball and looked at it, wondering if there was a way he could finish the battle.

"Maybe with his speed? No, Surskit could just use agility to gain the upper hand in an instant." Damien thought.

"I will accept the challenge." Sakura declared.

"Sakura, you want to battle?" Damien asked.

"Yes. Though Rocket's species does have limitless potential, we have yet to know where his greatest strength lies. That aside, you have had more experience using my strength and you know my capabilities far greater than Rocket's. I ask this of you not to take his opportunity away, I simply believe this not to be the opportunity for us to be testing his strength." Sakura explained.

"Well, when you put it that way…" Damien said.

"So, do you accept?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Damien said.

"Yes! I shall do my best." Sakura said, determined to win.

"Sorry, little dude, looks like you're sitting this one out." Damien said, looking at Rocket's pokéball before putting it away.

* * *

Damien got back to his side of the battlefield and both Surskit and Sakura went to their respective places.

"So, Damien, you decided to use your kirlia." Viola said.

"Yup, Sakura and I are gonna see this through to the end." Damien said.

"That kind of determination is key to any battle, Damien, but will it be enough to claim victory here?" Viola asked.

"Surskit, use signal beam!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired a pink ray directly at the ground beneath Sakura.

"Sakura, dodge it!" Damien shouted.

Sakura leaped to the side as the signal beam struck the ground, causing dirt to fly.

"Now, use sticky web!" Viola shouted.

Surskit shot a ball of web at Sakura as she rebounded from the previous dodge and stuck her against the wall.

"Looks like I got you right where I want you." Viola said.

"Is that so? Sakura, use magical leaf!" Damien shouted.

Sakura summoned many glowing green leaves around her and swiftly crossed each of them over the web, slicing it apart and freeing herself.

"Oh." Viola mumbled.

Sakura pointed the leaves at Surskit then fired them her way.

"Surskit, use agility and get away from there, now!" Viola shouted.

Surskit immediately took off, trying to avoid the incoming leaves but they were tracking her down. Surskit then skated towards Sakura and turned at a sharp angle right in front of her, causing her to flinch. Sakura opened her eyes and saw the leaves coming towards her and quickly stepped to the side, allowing them to impact the stone retention wall and puncture and stick out of it. Sakura became wary.

"Enough messing around! Surskit, use ice beam on the ground!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired a light blue ray in the air that burst into smaller ice beams, which fell to the ground and froze it over. The ground around Sakura's feet froze, causing her to slip and fall on her butt.

"Keep it together, Sakura, I know we can do it." Damien said.

Sakura got back up and stood on the ice, holding little balance over it. She then steadied herself by using psychic on herself.

"What do you think of my instant ice battlefield technique, Damien?" Viola asked.

"I don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's _picture perfect._ " Damien said suggestively.

"What on earth made you think that?" Viola sarcastically asked.

"We're still standing strong, though." Damien remarked.

"Not for long. Surskit, use your signal beam!" Viola shouted.

Surskit's antenna glowed pink as it was charging for signal beam.

"Sakura, concentrate your thunderbolt to repel the attack!" Damien shouted.

Electricity surged around Sakura's arms as she held them forward to fire the thunderbolt in a stream as the signal beam was being fired. The two attacks collided but the signal beam was slowly pushing through Sakura's attack as it was not fully charged.

"Dang it." Damien muttered, knowing he had to do something and quick.

"Sakura, you have to listen to me! Stop using thunderbolt!" Damien shouted.

Sakura looked at Damien.

"Damien?" Sakura questioned.

"You have to trust me on this!" Damien shouted.

Sakura obeyed without further question and stopped using thunderbolt and allowed herself to take some of the incoming signal beam attack.

"Now, Sakura, use psychic on the ice beneath Surskit." Damien shouted.

As the signal beam was splashing against Sakura, pushing her across the ice, her eyes glowed blue and she held her hands forward to use psychic, causing the dirt beneath the ice in front of her to arch up and break the ice apart as well as intercept the signal beam. Many more icy dirt explosions trailed, leading towards Surskit.

"Oh no! Surskit, stop what you're doing and get outta there!" Viola shouted as she realized what was about to happen.

Surskit could not move while she was using signal beam though and was helpless to avoid it in time. The ice beneath Surskit exploded and sent her flying directly into the air.

"Surskit, no!" Viola shouted.

"Now we got you! Sakura, magical leaf!" Damien shouted in excitement.

Sakura summoned many glowing leaves and shot them up towards the airborne Surskit. The leaves burst on impact until an explosion went off in the air. Surskit fell and hit the ice on Viola's side of the battlefield and an icy mist covered the field.

"Ah!" Viola shouted.

The mist dissipated after a moment. Surskit was revealed unconscious and most of the battlefield was cleared of ice.

"Surskit is unable to battle! Kirlia wins!" the referee announced.

* * *

Viola returned the unconscious Surskit back to her pokéball.

"You take a good rest, Surskit, you've earned it." Viola said, holding Surskit's pokéball up to her face.

"That was a bold move having your kirlia save herself the energy it takes to delay Surskit's signal beam for an advantage. In the future I wouldn't be too reliant on that tactic, especially when you're faced with an attack that confuses opponents. In this case, though, that was precisely the right thing to do. Nicely done, Damien." Viola said.

"You did it, Sakura. Great job." Damien said, congratulating Sakura.

"Yes! We have done it, we have triumphed!" Sakura cheered as she was jumping with joy.

"Don't start celebrating just yet." Viola chimed in just before pulling another pokéball out from her pocket.

"You still have one more pokémon standing in your way to victory. Whirlipede, come on out!" Viola shouted, tossing the pokéball into the air.

Out of the pokéball came a whirlipede that made a loud thud as he landed on the ground. He had a crazed look in his eye and he made muffled illegible grunting noises as if trying to say something. Whirlipede spun his tire-like body in place, kicking up dust behind. Sakura was unsure of how to feel about this pokémon.

"Whirlipede, isn't that a bug and poison-type pokémon?" Damien asked Viola.

"Right again. Do you know what that means?" Viola asked.

"What's that?" Damien asked back.

"It means that both of our pokémon hold an advantage over the other when it comes down to typing. Your kirlia's psychic attacks are super effective against my whirlipede's poison typing. However, it's her fairy typing that makes her weak to poison-type attacks, so be extra careful not to let your guard down." Viola told Damien.

"Whirlipede, use rollout!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede rolled rapidly as a tire would towards Sakura, moving at a somewhat fast pace.

"Sakura, use psychic on the ground again!" Damien shouted.

Sakura's eyes glowed blue and she held her right hand towards the ground Whirlipede was going to tread on, causing a dusty explosion. Whirlipede came from the cloud of dust, unharmed and still set on attacking Sakura. Whirlipede tackled Sakura and she was knocked onto her side.

"What?" Damien blurted.

"How can this be?" Sakura asked, confused about her psychic doing nothing to stop Whirlipede as she was getting up off the ground.

Whirlipede came circling back around to mow Sakura over again.

"Sakura, reflect!" Damien shouted.

Sakura put her hands forward and created a shining barrier of light in front of her. Whirlipede rammed against the reflect barrier and was stopped for a moment before he started pushing the barrier back slowly. Despite not physically pushing against Whirlipede, Sakura was still feeling the force of Whirlipede's rollout against her reflect as Whirlipede was kicking up dust behind him, trying to push through. The force was starting to be too much for Sakura and she started to buckle down, causing the reflect to slant down towards her. Whirlipede started to climb up the reflect barrier as if it was a ramp. Sakura saw an opportunity and with a good push, stood and lifted the barrier upwards and flung Whirlipede into one of the webs on the ceiling from Boomer and Surskit's earlier battle.

"Whirlipede!" Viola shouted.

"Now, Sakura, use thunderbolt!" Damien shouted.

Sakura placed her fingertips together over her chest and electricity charged within her hands. All at once, the electricity flowed through her right arm to her hand and she aimed it towards Whirlipede.

"Whirlipede, use protect and spin your way out of there!" Viola shouted.

Just before Sakura fired a stream of electricity at Whirlipede, he made a teal barrier appear in front of him that rippled bright blue as it absorbed the thunderbolt's impact. Whirlipede then spun rapidly, tearing the webs apart with his spikes and fell to the ground, forming a ring of dust as he crashed in place.

"This shot is starting to get tense. I'd better have my camera focused. I have a feeling things are going to escalate _quickly_." Viola said suggestively.

Damien noticed the way she said that, thinking it meant something.

"Whirlipede, use rollout again!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede was spinning in place, ready to take off again.

"Sakura, have that reflect up and ready!" Damien shouted.

Sakura raised her arms and formed another reflect barrier in front of her prepared for the next attack. Whirlipede took off but at a faster speed than before. Whirlipede was colliding with the reflect barrier and bouncing to the side, coming back around and repeating, knocking Sakura around as he did.

"Something's odd about this whirlipede. He's faster than he was a moment ago." Damien said as he observed Whirlipede's increasing speed.

"My whirlipede is something special. While most are born with swarm or poison point as their abilities, mine however was born with the speed boost ability. The longer my whirlipede stays in battle, the faster he gets. Truly a picture perfect performance." Viola told Damien.

"We'll see about that. Sakura, angle your reflect to fling Whirlipede into the air and use psychic on him!" Damien shouted.

As Sakura did earlier, she waited for Whirlipede to come to her and at the precise moment, angled the barrier towards her and flung whirlipede high into the air. She then raised her right hand to Whirlipede, surrounding him in a blue glow and held him in place.

"Now bring him down!" Damien shouted.

Sakura quickly lowered her arm towards the ground and sent Whirlipede downwards.

"Whirlipede!" Viola Shouted as Whirlipede was falling.

Whirlipede struck the ground hard and made a dusty explosion wide enough to nearly cover the whole battlefield. The room stayed silent and Sakura stayed alert and focused on the dust cloud in front of her. Viola smiled again.

"Now, Whirlipede, steamroller!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede came out of the dust cloud at an even higher velocity than before, fast enough to catch Sakura by surprise and knock her away. Sakura was obviously feeling hurt from that attack as she lied on her side, trying harder to get up.

"Sakura, are you alright?! Do you want to stop?!" Damien asked, feeling surprised.

"No, this is not over. I will see this through to the end." Sakura said as she rose from the ground, determined to fight on.

"Sakura, I don't want to see you get hurt." Damien said.

"I wish to become strong and overcome our limits, for we are a team. Would you not do the same for me?" Sakura asked, looking at Damien seriously.

As much as Damien hates seeing his pokémon overexert themselves in a battle, he knew better than anyone that Sakura was serious about this battle in particular.

"Okay, Sakura, let's keep at it." Damien said.

Viola snapped a picture of Sakura as she stood up, looking to Whirlipede intently.

"Damien, whatever happens during this battle, I just want you to know that bravery like your kirlia's only comes so scarcely in a lifetime. This is definitely going to be one of the highlights of my gym battle collection without a doubt." Viola said to Damien.

Sakura's expression did not change.

"Whirlipede, go!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede spun around the battlefield, circling Sakura as he did.

"Sakura, use psychic!" Damien shouted.

Sakura released bursts of psychic energy on the ground around Whirlipede as he was tearing around the battlefield, each one being dodged.

"Use rollout!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede changed course towards Sakura and she dodged the first attack. Whirlipede came back around to strike again.

"Sakura, use hyper voice!" Damien shouted.

Sakura took a deep breath and let loose a loud concentrated shout aimed at Whirlipede. Whirlipede became disorientated and lost control of his spinning, causing him to fall on his side and slide into Sakura, knocking her off her feet and into the air as Whirlipede slammed into the wall. Sakura landed on her back and the wind was knocked out of her lungs as she hit the ground. She got herself up on her arms and tried to hold back tears, using every ounce of her willpower to hide from Damien the pain she was feeling.

"Please stand, you must not fail Damien. He relies on your protection." Sakura thought to herself as she struggled to lift herself up.

"Sakura, you've done enough! You can't take much more of this!" Damien shouted out of concern.

"I can and I will!" Sakura shouted as she stood up and turned her head directly at Whirlipede, who was exhausted.

"What is this?!" Viola asked in shock.

Damien nodded, feeling like something was off.

"Sakura, psychic, let's go!" Damien shouted.

Sakura's eyes glowed and she raised her right hand toward Whirlipede, who looked dumbfounded.

"Whirlipede, protect!" Viola shouted desperately.

Just as Whirlipede formed his teal barrier, Sakura made a large burst of psychic energy right beneath him, sending him flying into the air.

"That does it, Whirlipede, now use poison tail!" Viola shouted.

Two of Whirlipede's feelers glowed purple and extended out and Whirlipede spun forward, bringing his feelers down like a pair of whips as he fell towards the ground. Damien and Sakura were alarmed at this.

"Sakura, reflect, now!" Damien shouted sharply.

Sakura held her arms up and put everything she had into this reflect barrier. Whirlipede struck the barrier with his poison tail attack and was suspended in the air as his glowing feelers were pushing down against the barrier with force, causing it to shake up and down. The barrier vibrated increasingly faster until it began to crack. Sakura's eyes shot wide open as she came to the realization that this is when she bit off more than she could chew and the reflect barrier shattered into pieces. The sudden backlash from the reflect barrier breaking apart was forceful enough that Sakura felt all of the tension it absorbed from poison tail and sent her flying back.

" _Ahhhhhhhhhh!_ " Sakura screamed as she fell to the ground.

* * *

"Oh no… Sakura!" Damien shouted as he ran to Sakura in shock.

Viola, Whirlipede and the ref also went over and gathered around. Damien looked in dismay as Sakura was writhing on the ground, hyperventilating in place of crying as tears fell from her eyes and she was clenching her teeth to muffle herself. He gasped when he got a good look at the source of this. Sakura's right arm was reddish in color and swollen. Damien leaned over to get a closer look.

"Please! Keep your distance!" Sakura telepathically pleaded loudly to Damien.

Everything she had done up until now to conceal the suffering she put herself through so dearly for Damien was now laid out in front of him. She felt mortified and ashamed for Damien to see her this way, to see that her efforts to give him the victory she thought he deserved were in vain and caused this to happen to her.

"What have I done?" Damien asked himself regretfully.

Whirlipede mumbled something as he had a pitiless look in his eyes.

"This never happened while I worked here, though I think it goes without saying…" the referee said, feeling disturbed.

"Please, forgive me, Damien. I… have let you down." Sakura said to Damien shamefully, unable to look him in the eye.

"Let me down?" Damien asked, feeling confused.

"Damien, maybe you should call her back." Viola told Damien.

Damien pulled Sakura's cherish ball out of his jacket and looked at it decisively. Sakura could not be carried to the pokécenter like this and at least this way she would not be disturbed on the way over. He remembered what he said to her on the night he caught her in Ambrette as well.

"I'm going to make you a promise. I will never put you back inside unless it is for your safety if you would only let me do it just this once." Damien remembered saying to Sakura.

He hesitantly aimed the cherish ball at Sakura.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura. I never wanted this." Damien said apologetically.

Sakura gave no reaction to the cherish ball and she shed one final tear of defeat just before Damien returned her in a colorful beam of light.

Damien placed Sakura's now occupied cherish ball inside his jacket and faced off to the side, feeling as if aside from the battle with Viola, they had just lost another one altogether.

"Damien…" Viola said, feeling empathetically for him.

"I gotta go. I'll talk to you later. Thank you for your time, Viola." Damien humbly said to Viola before he walked out the gym door, visibly shaken from the outcome of this battle.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

 **Yikes, you are just too eager to please, Sakura.**

 **Also, I take back what I said earlier. That last chapter was not all too measly. It was more like a build up to this one, and that means something, at least that's how I see it.**

 **I should mention that some of my reader's suggestions were taken into account and applied to my process on this gym battle and the next so thank you guys for that, it really spiced things up here.**

 **Disclaimer: Alexa is owned by the Pokémon company, not myself.**

 **Unrelated Note: The Pittsburgh Steelers combined with the Philadelphia Eagles to form the Steagles in 1943 and with the Chicago Cardinals to form Card-Pitt in 1944 to keep professional football alive during WWII.**


	16. Chapter 16 - Recovery Part 1

**Wow, okay. Truth be told, I got so stuck and bored writing this chapter that I actually decided to skip ahead and flesh out some of the future chapters that I thought would be more interesting as a means to further motivate myself before I came back to this one. It seems to have worked the way I hoped it would, though it will take some time until I can show you all what I did. Damn writer's block… at least I made that time useful for the story. =/**

 **I decided to repeat what I did with chapter 14 and slice the chapter into two separate parts because it was tediously long and really, I am still kinda stuck on part 2 of this.**

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

 **Recovery Part 1**

(Santalune Pokécenter)

Damien had taken Sakura back to the Pokécenter to have her injuries sustained from the battle with Viola diagnosed. While Sakura was being operated on, Damien and Rocket walked to the reception room with Alexa and Boomer, who was thawed out and wearing a blanket, still grouchy over being laughed at. Damien gave him a spelon berry as an apology gift since the noibat and noivern species find them irresistible.

"How was the battle, Damien?" Alexa asked.

"Well, I've definitely had better." Damien answered as he sat between the swaddled Boomer and Alexa.

"Oh, sorry to hear that." Alexa said, feeling bad.

"Sakura just couldn't keep up with Viola's whirlipede." Damien said.

"That's too bad." Alexa replied.

"Yeah, it is. Hey, my bad for yelling at you back in the gym, Alexa." Damien apologized.

"You have nothing to apologize for, I was completely out of line." Alexa explained.

"After that moment with… you know, my charmander and all, I've been extra careful with any relationship I have with anyone. I always just wanted to do my best to please everyone I care for, even if that means taking risks upon myself. I guess it still doesn't matter what I do in the end." Damien said as he looked down.

"That's not true, Damien. You're a good person and a talented trainer, that does mean something." Alexa said.

"I guess, but now Sakura is hurt and pretty badly by the looks of things and poor Boomer here got frozen solid. This whole battle was a complete bust and I wish I never made that stupid challenge in the first place." Damien said, feeling sullen.

Alexa looked down disappointedly and they stayed silent for a moment. She then growled to herself.

"Dang it, this is my fault, Damien." Alexa said angrily as she gestured to herself.

Damien and his pokémon looked at Alexa as she stood.

"Believe it or not, my sister is one of the craftiest trainers in the Kalos region. People like to laugh off bug-type pokémon as a joke and underestimate their capabilities and Viola makes them learn differently the hard way. The ralts line draws their power from positive emotions, the more stable their emotions are, the better they fight and vice versa. I knew that and I didn't even think about it back in the gym. If I hadn't said all of those things then your kirlia might have won the match for you." Alexa explained.

"Come to think of it, some of Sakura's attacks weren't working properly during the battle." Damien said, thinking back.

"If anyone should be apologizing it should be me, not you, not your pokémon, not anyone else. I'm sorry, Damien, for everything." Alexa apologized earnestly to Damien, looking down.

"You were looking out for my own interests, Alexa, I know that." Damien said as he stood up with Alexa in understanding.

"You're right, Damien, I was. Now I'm going to tell you this for that same reason. I want you to maintain your relationship with your pokémon, train them and defeat my sister, and I want you to be the best trainer you can be if it means I need to help you the whole way." Alexa said genuinely to Damien.

Damien looked at Alexa with a blank stare for a moment then he smiled and nodded.

"Okay, I'll do it." Damien said, feeling instilled with confidence again.

Viola walked into the pokécenter.

"Viola, what are you doing here?" Alexa asked Viola.

"I came by to see how you were doing. I was a little rough on you, Damien." Viola said to Damien.

"Hey, when you're a gym leader, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?" Damien asked.

Boomer was hovering to Damien's right, scowling at Viola.

"Cheer up, Boomer, I brought something for you too." Viola said as she pulled a red, lengthy, spiky berry out of her purse and tossed it Boomer's way.

Boomer smiled the instant he saw the spelon berry and with a good chomp, he ate it in one bite.

"Look at you getting all the berries today, Boomer. Maybe you should get yourself frozen more often." Damien joked to Boomer.

Boomer was too taken with the spelon berry to care about what he said.

"So, how's Sakura doing?" Viola asked.

"We don't know yet." Damien said.

"Well, I hope she'll be alright. I was hoping I could see her too." Viola said.

Rocket was jumping up against Damien's leg.

"What is it, little dude? Are you hungry? It is getting close to dinner time, isn't it?" Damien asked Rocket.

"Hey, how about I take you guys out for dinner, my treat." Viola said.

"Yeah sure, I'm down with that. How about you two?" Damien asked Boomer and Rocket.

Boomer chirped and Rocket barked in delight.

"I take it that's a yes." Damien said.

"Alexa?" Viola asked Alexa.

"Certainly." Alexa replied.

"Alright, I'm just gonna have the nurse let Sakura know that I'm leaving." Damien said.

* * *

(Santalune City)

Damien went up to the counter to request one of the Joys to notify Sakura of his leaving before he left the pokécenter with Viola, Alexa and his pokémon. Viola made the suggestion to eat at a food joint that serves breakfast all day, which everyone was more than pleased with. They arrived at the restaurant and were seated at a round table for three. Damien let his pokémon out on the floor next to his chair and tied Rocket's leash to the table's leg. A young waiter came to their table to greet them, the group ordered a round of coffee and pokémon food while they decided on what their meals would be.

"Hey look, they have the all you can eat pancakes special going on." Viola said as she pointed to her menu.

Rocket quickly jerked his head to look at Viola as she said that.

"They have that again?" Alexa asked excitedly.

"Yeah, how great is this place?" Viola asked, smiling.

"Let's do that." Alexa said, also smiling.

"No argument here. Damien?" Viola asked Damien.

"Sounds awesome, count me in." Damien said, caught up in their moment.

"Yes!" the sisters shouted in unison.

The waiter comes back to their table and hands them their respective beverages and Damien's pokémon's food.

"So have you decided on what you're having for tonight?" the waiter asked politely.

"Yes, all three of us are going to have the all you can eat pancake special." Viola said excitedly.

"Excellent, will that be all?" the waiter asked.

"That'll be all for tonight, yes, thank you so much." Viola answered.

"Alright, I'll be back with your pancakes soon enough." the waiter said, walking back to the kitchen.

The group was having discussions on what goes on in their lives while they waited for the pancakes and Rocket was taking his time with his food. Boomer had yet to take a bite of his all the while. He took a single pellet of his food and bit down into it disdainfully, no longer fond of its taste.

"Rocket, look out! The tiny red terror is back!" Boomer shouted, pointing behind Rocket.

"Where?!" Rocket shouted angrily as he turned around, surveying the area for the red laser spec from the other day.

Boomer took his dish of food and dumped it into Rocket's without him noticing.

"Oops. Never mind, false alarm." Boomer said before he flew up above the table and clung to the chandelier above it and watched the television.

"And that was how Valerie and I became friends." Viola said to Damien.

"That's deep. My classmate Anthony was an exchange student from Johto. He told me about how Team Rocket was responsible for mayhem over there and in the Kanto region. It was nice of you to be there to comfort her in her time of need." Damien replied.

Rocket barked at Damien.

"Not you, Rocket, I was talking about bad people." Damien told Rocket.

"Oh, that reminds me, I forgot to ask you. A month ago some guy in the news fought these pokémon hunters that were terrorizing Ambrette's forest and ripped them a new one. Any idea who that was, Damien?" Viola asked Damien.

"I already told you, it was him." Alexa said to Viola.

"I know, I just wanted to hear it from his mouth." Viola replied.

"Yeah, that was me. I went in the woods because someone just had to go and fly off in there like a _total butthead_." Damien said, looking up at Boomer.

Boomer gave no response as he was watching the television.

"But it was because of Boomer's impulse that you rescued your kirlia in the first place though." Alexa said.

"That's true. You are a lifesaver, Boomer." Damien told Boomer, who simply gave a solitary chirp in response, still looking at the television screen.

"It was so sad to see how miserable she looked in the footage you sent me. Don't you ever wonder what happened to her?" Alexa asked Damien.

"Oh, I know what." Damien said sighing.

"What? How?" Alexa asked.

"I'll tell you about it later, it's kind of a long story." Damien said.

The subject was changed and the group continued with their discussions until the waiter came back with their pancakes.

"Ooh, the pancakes are here!" Alexa squealed in excitement.

Rocket jumped to the sound of that word again and pulled back at his leash, trying to break free from it.

"Here are your pancakes, we hope you enjoy them." the waiter said, placing a tray holding a stack of 6 large pancakes on their table.

"These pancakes look choice." Damien said, smiling.

"Yeah? Just wait 'til you take a bite out of 'em." Viola told Damien.

"I'll come back in a bit to see if you would like more afterward." the waiter said politely.

"Thank you." the three said in unison as the waiter left.

The three each took two pancakes and put them on their plates. Damien took his fork and cut through the soft, warm, buttery, syrupy goodness and poked through it and brought it up to his mouth. Before Damien could take a bite out of his pancake, he heard a click and snap sound, causing him to halt his motion altogether. He looked over to Viola, who was holding her camera up to her pancakes.

"Really?" Damien asked Viola.

"Oh, did I forget to introduce you to my sister? How careless of me." Alexa teased Damien.

"Hi, my name is Viola and I like to take pictures of things." Viola said as she waved to Damien, also teasing him.

"Oh real professional, you two, ganging up on the intern like always." Damien said as he ducked his head down out of embarrassment.

"Come on, Damien, you're as fun to pick on as you are cute." Alexa said.

Damien blushed, dropping his forehead against the table and wrapping his arms around his head. Alexa and Viola shared a laugh.

"Alright, you two, I gotta go use the lady's room real quick." Viola chuckled while walking away.

Damien and Alexa were alerted to a war-like cry on the television. They saw a submarine modeled after a qwilfish docked at the harbor of a populated city launching cone-shaped missiles from the silos on its top side, akin to a pin missile attack. They were aimed at an infernape astride a rapidash as they were approaching the submarine. The two fire-type pokémon avoided the missiles as they exploded on impact and Infernape shot balls of fire at the silos, destroying them. The submarine was retreating, submerging itself beneath the water and the infernape dove in after it.

Boomer looked at the screen with laser focus.

"Ugh, what is it with Boomer and these movies, anyway?" Alexa asked Damien rhetorically as she was looking up at Boomer.

"Was he like this before you gave him to me?" Damien asked Alexa.

"Yeah, watching television was his favorite way to pass the time along with baking. Old habits die hard, I guess." Alexa said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Uh huh…" Damien said, turning back to his pancakes to find Rocket up on the table eating one of them and his leash was unclipped from his collar.

"Rocket? But… your leash!" Damien stammered, unsure of how Rocket got to where he was without anyone noticing.

Rocket continued to eat Damien's pancake while he sat there, frozen in disbelief. Damien quickly lunged over the table in an attempt to grab Rocket but he reacted, jumping straight into the air and landing on Damien's head. Rocket jumped off of Damien and swiped the pancake off his plate, jumping on a chair, then to the floor and ran to the corner of the room to enjoy his spoils.

"Looks like Boomer isn't the only pokémon you have trouble keeping under control. Seems like you have your work cut out for you, Damien." Alexa giggled.

Damien continued looking at Rocket in thought and then to Boomer, whose eyes were glued to the television screen. He looked back and forth thinking about how easily motivated Rocket would get over something he cares for and how Boomer tends to learn his knowledge and behavior from his interest in television. An idea was coming across his mind.

Viola came back from the bathroom and sat down.

"Hey, did I miss anything while I was gone?" Viola asked.

She saw that a pancake was gone from Damien's plate.

"Whoa… way to dig in without me, Damien. So, how are they?" Viola asked Damien.

* * *

The group carried on with their meals and had a few more rounds of pancakes until they were all full and satisfied. Viola paid for the dinner and they all left the restaurant, walking along the road to Viola's house. Damien's pokémon were at his sides.

"So, Damien, I thought I could let you battle me again sometime next week if you were interested. I can reserve a time slot just for you." Viola told Damien.

"Thanks, I'll need to figure out when I can exactly." Damien replied.

"You have all weekend." Viola said.

"Oh. Damien, I almost forgot. Weren't you going to say something about your pokémon after we were done eating?" Alexa asked Damien.

"What? Oh yeah, right. Where do I even begin on that?" Damien asked himself, looking upwards in thought.

Damien told Alexa and Viola about Sakura's tragic experience with her home and family and the night he crossed paths with her.

"Wow, all of that really happened? I feel really bad for your pokémon." Alexa said sympathetically.

"You know what the worst part is? We don't even know what happened to her parents. We don't know if they're safe or free or even alive for that matter and I feel terrible whenever I think about it." Damien said.

"Wow, kind of like what happened with Valerie. It really puts our problems into perspective. Sakura was lucky you came barreling in." Viola said.

Rocket looked ahead, thinking about what Damien said with a look of sorrow in his eyes.

"Sakura's mommy and daddy were attacked by the bad people?" Rocket asked Boomer.

"Yeah." Boomer answered

"That's terrible." Rocket said in sympathy.

"It must be a real drag." Boomer said.

"Are your mommy and daddy okay?" Rocket asked Boomer.

"To tell you the truth, I never knew my parents, Rocket." Boomer answered.

"What?" Rocket asked in disbelief.

"Alexa told me I was given to her as an egg by someone who had a batch of my brothers and sisters. One of them hatched and turned out to be just what that trainer wanted, as for the rest of us… we weren't needed, so we were given away." Boomer explained.

"Oh. Rocket is sorry to hear that." Rocket said, feeling sorry for Boomer.

"It's okay. I mean, it could have been worse. I do have a pretty good life now, getting to see the world and what have 'ya." Boomer explained.

"Rocket guesses." Rocket said.

"Alexa, what's with your interest over my kirlia all of a sudden?" Damien asked.

"Honestly, I've always been fascinated by the ralts line. They share a likeness with mankind both physically and behaviorally and have a talent with emotions that no other living being possesses. There's still much more to them that nobody knows anything about. That's why they're such a hot topic among pokémon researchers and scientologists." Alexa explained.

"You don't say…" Damien said.

"I put that fascination aside because of my work, but now that I finally know someone who has one then maybe…" Alexa paused.

"Maybe what?" Damien asked.

"I was going to say maybe I could get to know Sakura and understand their species better, but we totally got off on the wrong foot." Alexa sighed regretfully.

"Sakura won't hold it against you, you can be sure of that." Damien assured Alexa.

"They're such emotionally dependent pokémon. They require constant care and attention from their peers for them to maintain their health. They become attuned with their trainer's base emotions and in a way, they sync up and they can sense whatever feeling the other one has at any time, even whenever they're far away from each other. I'm guessing you already had that figured out though." Alexa explained.

"Yeah, Sakura is needier than my other pokémon, not that it's any trouble to me. She does spend more time with me than anyone else and I've felt more at peace with myself with her around and knowing how my pokémon feel. It definitely helps knowing I can directly communicate with her. I've gotten so used to it now and it feels… nice." Damien said, smiling and staring off into space.

"Don't get me wrong, you're not just some host to her that she can feed off of. Sakura genuinely cares for you and you saving her isn't even the half of it. She sees positivity in your own feelings and trusts you in a way she wouldn't trust with any other human." Alexa explained.

"You really do know your stuff on them, don't you, Alexa?" Damien asked Alexa, impressed with her knowledge.

"You better believe it." Alexa replied.

They continued to walk for a moment in silence. Viola had a sly look on her face.

"You know, Damien, your pokémon isn't the only one who requires constant care and attention." Viola said to Damien with a smirk.

"Who else needs it?" Damien asked.

"Don't say it." Alexa demanded Viola.

Viola took a deep breath with a grin.

"I swear to Arceus, Viola. If you say it, I'm gonna…" Alexa said in a more threatening manner.

"It's Matthew." Viola said.

"Ugh… I told you not to say it, you bitch." Alexa grunted angrily at Viola.

"What, your boyfriend? What's this about?" Damien asked Alexa.

"It's nothing. Things are a little complicated, that's all." Alexa explained.

"How so?" Damien asked.

"I'm sure it's nothing you would be interested in hearing about." Alexa said.

"Try me." Damien insisted.

"Well… okay. You see, I met Matt almost a year ago when he came to me after work looking for directions since he was new to the city." Alexa explained.

"Sound familiar?" Viola asked Damien.

"After I showed him around, he told me the reason he wanted directions was because he was lost in my eyes. I told you that before, right?" Alexa asked Damien.

"You mentioned it awhile ago, yeah." Damien replied.

"As cheesy as it was, I thought it was sweet. He asked me for my number in case he ever needed me to show him around some more, which of course he did. After some time, we got to know each other better. He worked late at Restaurant Le Nah and me being somewhat of a night-noctowl myself and liking to hang around there, we had some common ground. We got to see each other even more and after a little while, we just clicked." Alexa said.

"Cool." Damien said.

"Things were great. We haven't known each other very long, but he's been so supportive and just… you know… there." Alexa said, smiling.

"That sounds great. So why is this complicated?" Damien asked.

Alexa let out a disappointed sigh.

"Now it's like he's a completely different person. Before, he was caring and attentive, but now it's like he isn't there when I need him most times. It doesn't even matter how many times I've been there for him." Alexa said.

"That's rough. I'm sorry to hear that." Damien said.

"Just wait, it gets even better." Viola said.

"He's also been acting vaguely as well, trying to avoid certain conversations. He acts like he doesn't even see me when we're around other people, and that's not even the worst of it." Alexa said.

"I had a picture of him locking lips with another girl sent to me." Viola chimed.

"You what?" Damien asked Viola.

Alexa winced.

"It's true. I was crushed when I found out the truth and I had to say something to him. He denied everything until I showed him that picture on my phone. I told him we needed time apart from each other and since then, he's been begging me to go back to him. He would even stop by once and awhile at my apartment to visit and he's just been pushing me for another chance. It's been stressing me out and I'm not sure what to do." Alexa said in despair.

"That's because you haven't been listening to me when I told you to shut him out completely." Viola muttered.

"Oh Viola…" Alexa sighed.

"It's okay, we'll figure this out together." Viola said, placing her right hand on Alexa's shoulder.

The group came to a split in the pathway.

"I'll meet you at home, Alexa. I gotta close the gym for tonight. See you around, Damien." Viola said, walking away from the group.

Alexa and Damien waved to Viola as she parted and they continued to Viola's house.

"So, do you still want to talk about it?" Damien asked Alexa.

"Do you?" Alexa asked back.

"Sure, why not?" Damien replied.

"Viola means well and even though I wish it were that easy, it's just not. After having known Matthew for this long, it's hard to just let go. I guess part of me wants to believe things will go back to the way they were in the beginning." Alexa mournfully said.

"Well, who knows? Maybe he's changed. I don't know if I can help a whole lot with this since… well, I never even saw the guy. If you think he's worth giving a second chance then maybe it would be fair to allow him the opportunity to redeem himself." Damien explained.

"Do you think it's worth the risk?" Alexa asked.

"Well, judging by the sound of it, he is willing to do his part. That's more than I can say for… eh." Damien said in reference to his past relationship.

"He probably realized how much he screwed up by taking advantage of the trust of someone as caring and fun to be around as you are." Damien said.

"Is that really how you feel about me?" Alexa asked.

"Sure it is, Alexa." Damien replied.

"That… means alot coming from you, Damien. I'm glad you and I could have this talk." Alexa said.

"Of course, anytime." Damien replied.

Alexa, Damien and his pokémon could see Viola's house as they walked. Alexa let out a small laugh.

"What?" Damien asked Alexa in response.

"I just think it's kind of funny that you had similar problems in your relationship as I did, someone so much younger than I am none the less." Alexa said.

"So much… what's that supposed to mean, anyways? You know I still don't believe you when you say you're as old as you are. I mean, seriously, you look like you could be younger than me." Damien said sincerely.

Alexa merely gave a blushed smile at the compliment. They continued walking to Viola's house until they reached her front door and they stood there.

"Viola and I are going back to Lumiose for the weekend tomorrow morning. Are you going to be training your pokémon?" Alexa asked Damien.

"Yeah. I have to put what I learned from my battle with Viola to good use if I'm gonna beat her. It's best we trained after a well-earned night's rest." Damien replied.

"Good thinking. Thank you again for our talk, it's given me something to think on." Alexa said.

"Alexa…" Damien said.

"Yeah?" Alexa asked, looking into Damien's green eyes.

"I wasn't exaggerating about what I said earlier. You deserve better than what he put you through and you owe it to yourself to do what's right for you." Damien said.

Alexa smiled at his comforting statement as she looked at him. She stepped forward and brought him into a gentle, but tight hug.

"You're so sweet. Any lady would be so lucky to have you around." Alexa said to Damien.

"Oh, uh… yeah. Thank you, Alexa." Damien said, gently returning the hug.

"Well, have a good night." Damien said as their hug broke.

"Good night, Damien. I hope Sakura will be alright." Alexa replied.

Damien walked back to the pokécenter with his pokémon alongside him.

* * *

(Santalune Pokécenter)

Damien arrived at the pokécenter and went back to the reception room and talked with the nurse about Sakura's diagnosis. He was taken back to the operating room to see her laying on an operating bed and wearing a cast on her right arm as he was told about the diagnosis.

"During your kirlia's time with us we successfully removed any potential leads to infection and we took some x-rays of her arm. I'm afraid your kirlia's arm is broken." Nurse Joy said.

"Oh…" Damien said, his suspicion being confirmed.

"We estimate the amount of time for it to completely heal will be in two weeks. It is crucial that you refrain from using her in battle or any kind of exercise involving that arm until that time comes." the Joy said.

"I understand." Damien said.

"I'll be back in momentarily." the Joy said, leaving Damien and Sakura in the room alone.

"Broken…" Damien said simply.

He let out a long sigh and sat down at the foot of Sakura's bed. Sakura lifted her head up to face him.

"How could I have been so stupid? I should have seen it, I should have stopped the match sooner." Damien said in self-blame.

"Damien, you are not the one who is at fault. It was I who neglected my own well-being, not you." Sakura explained.

"I just don't understand. You know how I feel about seeing you hurt. Why were you so driven to keep on fighting like that?" Damien asked Sakura.

"I knew well your desire to claim victory at the gym. I did not wish to disappoint you." Sakura said, looking at Damien.

"Sakura, I'm not disappointed with you, I feel like there's more to this than that though. You have to tell me what this was really about." Damien said.

Sakura turned her head away from him.

"I thought about what Alexa told you as we arrived at the gym. I could not disagree with what she said." Sakura said.

"What she said?" Damien asked.

"That my presence is a danger to you. As fortunate as I am to have your company, I cannot put your safety at such risk." Sakura said, stopping to close her eyes.

"I thought that if I prevailed at the gym then I would have proven otherwise." Sakura said.

Damien scooted closer toward Sakura on the bed.

"Sakura, you don't need to prove yourself to Ale-" Damien was cut off.

"Not to Alexa… to myself." Sakura interrupted while scrunching her eyes.

She looked at Damien again.

"If I am still being pursued as Alexa stated, then that makes me responsible for the dangers that could come to you. If I were more powerful I could perhaps make that possibility avoidable, but I could not even prove my worth as a fighter at the gym." Sakura said.

"Viola is a gym leader and she's tougher than I thought she would be and you gave her a great fight. Didn't you see her face? You are powerful, Sakura." Damien said.

"I am not powerful enough to guarantee your safety. I feel that there is only one thing I could do to accomplish that." Sakura said.

"Which is…?" Damien asked.

Sakura looked off with a strained expression as she struggled to convey the answer to him.

"Taking my leave." Sakura said quietly and hesitantly.

"What?!" Damien asked, feeling alarmed.

Sakura's heart sank at the sudden rush of Damien's desperate emotions. She expected this from him and despite what she had hoped for, this was sincerely what she believed was right.

"If I am not with you, my pursuers would have no reason to bring you harm." Sakura said, her voice a wavering representation of the pain she felt from admitting this to Damien.

"Sakura, do you hear yourself right now? Do you remember what I said in the gym? I'm not going to let you get captured and taken for Arceus knows what. I'm more concerned with your safety than something that _could_ happen to me." Damien said.

"I am not. By the time I have made my recovery I will have made my decision on where I am to go, Damien." Sakura said.

"Sakura…" Damien said despondently.

"Sorry, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Your kirlia requires further treatment. You may stop in again in the morning." the nurse said to Damien as she walked into the operating room.

Damien stood up and made his way to the door and stopped as he opened it.

"Please, Sakura, think about what _I_ said." Damien said, looking back at Sakura as he held the door before he left the room.

Sakura shifted on her side and closed her eyes, ready to sleep.

* * *

Damien rented a room in the pokécenter and he released his other two pokémon from their pokéballs so they can find their places to sleep. Boomer clung to the curtain rod and Rocket lied down on the foot of the bed. Damien went to sleep himself afterward, hoping things would shape up soon.

Sakura meanwhile was in her bed, stirring around in her sleep. Her movements picked up and her arm extended out as if she was reaching towards someone. Her breathing became exasperated and erratic until she could take no more. She let out a gasp and her eyes shot wide open.

"Li!" Sakura yelped.

She was then looking around the room in confusion before she came to the notion that she was merely having a bad dream. She looked down and took hold of her mother's amulet in her left hand and stared at it. She then clutched it with a sorrowful look as she got out of bed. Sakura explored the desks in the room, looking for a writing utensil and a piece of paper. She found the items she sought for and took them to her bed.

(Sakura's POV)

Words do not describe how difficult this is for me to do. It may even be impossible were I not constantly reminding myself why I am ultimately doing this to begin with. I feel this is the most reliable way to keep them from being harmed by my pursuers. I do not wish to doubt Damien's capabilities, but not even my father could fend against them and he is the strongest individual that I have ever known.

So with a pen in hand, I reluctantly press it to the paper and… how does one spell this phrase again? Blast! I never have learned to properly write as I wished I could, yet another thing I will need to forgo. The fact that this is not the hand that I would preferably write with is not serviceable to this task either. I try my best to write this out regardless, taking the time necessary for me to write it legibly and I lay the note on the bed and place the pen where I had first found it.

Now that I am prepared, I close my eyes and take in a breath, focusing on the area past this window and in the next moment I am just outside the building's front side. I breathe out in a sigh, resisting every urge to look back to where I came from and move forth, trying to find the nearest forest and keep myself out of sight.

I continue to walk, staying concealed in the shadows towards the mass of trees that encompasses the southern woodlands of the city. I feel my eyes welling and tears falling, my face tingling as they roll down. I wish I saw an alternative to this course. He tells me that he is willing to keep me safe, regardless of the cost, but I can simply not allow it. Neither he, nor his companions should bear the burden that I must carry with me, and if something were to become of him because of that…

I have made it this far. The sooner I do this, the easier it will be for us all. Goodbye, my friends.

* * *

(Santalune Forest)

I have been traversing through this forest for some time. I chose to come this way because without Damien, my only purpose is to be reunited with my family and if I were to find their whereabouts, I would need to look to my past, to the roots of which this has begun. I have my mind set on that path, but my body must rest now. I find the nearest hollowed tree to take refuge in and try my best to clear my thoughts, awaiting slumber.

I awake early the next morning at dawn, surprised to not find myself in a bed and next to my dear friend. I have grown so accustomed to that lifestyle that what was once so natural to me has become less so. Disappointed, I let out a sigh and rose to continue my course and fared onward.

I have come across a dirt path as I moved quietly through the trees that comprised this forest. It appears quite peaceful at this time of day as the light of the morning sun shines through the leaves. All is as one would expect, other than the deceptive silence that surrounds this place. It remained this way until I heard something to my right and I halted in place. What I saw emerging from a briar patch was a large brown insect creature with thick legs, scrawny arms, a frightening face and two large barbed horns atop its head. It then looked upon me with fierce eyes, stepped forward and clashed its prehensile horns together, causing loud ringing noises which had me terrified. As I faced towards this creature, I sensed aggression in it, along with… hunger.

"Oh no…" I said in strife.

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 **Look at what you got yourself into Sakura, whatcha gonna do about it? No seriously, what are you gonna do about it? Find out in the next chapter when I tell you readers exactly what Sakura is gonna do about it!** **As always, I hope to see some feedback from you peoples on the story so far. Bye!**

 **Unrelated Note: It is widely believed that constipated people do not give a crap.**


	17. Chapter 17 - Recovery Part 2

**So you see the chapter right beneath this author note here? This is a chapter that I rewrote because I _DESPISED_ what I had for it previously. Those of you who read Chapter 17 before the rewrite can probably remember what looked like. That talk between Sakura and Boomer? Ugh** **…** **what in the hell was I thinking including that in her character background? It absolutely contradicted everything else I previously established about it. Maybe now that this is up we can all forget that was ever a thing and move on. I can't say for certain that _this_ is perfect but at least now I can look at it without feeling ashamed of myself and that's what should matter.**

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 **Recovery Part 2**

(Santalune Pokécenter)

It was early morning in Santalune and Damien was sound asleep in his room at the pokécenter, as were Boomer and Rocket. He was woken up by a knock at his door.

"Excuse me, sir?" a feminine voice called from behind the door.

"Ughhh…" Damien groaned as he threw his blanket aside and slowly rolled out of bed.

"It's early. What is it?" Damien groggily groaned as he walked towards the door.

He felt his heart pounding harder and faster and he was breathing harder than usual. It felt to him as if he wanted to panic on the inside even though he felt no legitimate reason to, so he ignored it.

He looked through the peephole in the door and saw one of the Joys standing outside. He opened the door slightly and slowly.

"Can I help you, Joy?" Damien tiredly asked through the crack.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir, but we have some bad news." the Joy hesitantly answered.

"Bad news? What's the problem?" Damien asked more alertly.

"You see… I went in to check on your kirlia and all there was in her bed was this." the Joy nervously explained while handing Damien a piece of paper.

Damien took the paper from Joy and rubbed his eyes before reading the note written on it.

 **I am deeply sory for doing this. It is with hevy hart that I leev with out**

 **derectly informing you. I can not alow you to risk sufering for my burden**

 **wen you hav no need to. Just no that wat you hav don for me wil** **not go**

 **unapresheated nor forgoten. I wil hold the memorys clos to my hart always.**

 **Thank you for evrything. May you and ar frends leed saf livs. Good by Damien.**

 **Truly yors Sakura.**

* * *

(Santalune Forest, Sakura's POV)

I backed away to a rock slowly, readying to teleport from this monstrous creature. I must act now.

I see towards the other end of the pathway behind the creature. If I teleport there then I may be able to make my escape. I close my eyes and place all my focus on that area and concentrate. I open my eyes again… only to find it was not a success.

Oh no! I have forgotten, I cannot fully concentrate in a situation such as this. My only means of escaping is ineffective. Terrified, I hold up my arm to defend myself as I anticipate this creature to attack me in the worst fashion imaginable. I then heard a voice speak.

"Shen, use psyshock!" the voice shouted.

The creature was strongly impacted on its side by three violet orbs. Both I and the creature looked to where they had come from. There was a creature that I recognized as a meditite, presumably named Shen that stood firmly and a young human boy. This boy was wearing an orange shirt, a black pair of one of those short pants, blue shoes and a blue hat. He looks as if he was perhaps twelve years of age.

I took this opportunity to carefully prowl away from the creature while its attention was preoccupied by the pair. I moved to a safe distance and concealed myself within a hollowed stump where I could witness what was happening.

"Leave that pokémon alone!" the boy shouted at the creature, who responded by raising its arms.

Its arms glowed white and it struck the ground with them, crumbling it and causing a shock wave that trailed toward its opponent. I could feel the tremor from the ground beneath me at this moment.

"Use detect!" the boy shouted.

Shen's eyes shined green and he stood pensively. He leapt back suddenly and a large rock arched up from the ground he previously stood from. He dodged the attack at the precise moment! I was impressed by the dexterity. He was clearly well trained.

"Now, rock slide!" the boy shouted.

Shen hopped off the rock from the creature's attack and summoned many smaller rocks in front of it and sent them towards the creature. The creature braced for the attack and managed to fend itself against a few of the incoming rocks but was eventually felled.

"You want more? I said _'go away'_." the boy said calmly but assertively.

The creature looked upon the boy grudgingly and snarled, then got up calmly and walked away. It must have decided that we are not worth the effort.

I smiled and stepped forward from out of my hiding in an effort to give them my thanks.

The boy turned to face me.

(Normal POV)

"Now, with that pinsir out of the way, where were we?" the trainer asked Shen.

"Oh right. I don't know what kind of pokémon you are but whatever you are, you're mine." the trainer said to Sakura.

Shen raised his arms back up and awaited his trainer's command.

Sakura's smile disappeared as quickly as it came and she backed away quickly and tumbled over onto her side, causing her to grunt. The trainer then narrowed his eyes to get a better look at Sakura.

"Wait a minute…" the trainer said.

"That cast… someone already owns you." the trainer said in realization, prompting Shen to lower his arms.

"Where's your trainer?" Shen asked Sakura.

"He is safely asleep at the pokécenter up ahead." Sakura answered as she stood back up.

"What is it?" the trainer asked Shen, who simply held a hand up in response, signifying that he was having a discussion with Sakura.

The trainer nodded and allowed Shen to resume his chat.

"Why are you out here? Don't you know it's dangerous to be out on your own?" Shen asked.

"It is something I do not feel comfortable going into detail about." Sakura vaguely answered.

"What is it? Did your trainer abuse you? Did he abandon you?" Shen asked, showing suspicion in his voice.

"No, no, it is not that." Sakura answered.

"Then what is it? We need to know." Shen said.

Sakura gave no answer. She simply faced the direction opposite from the pair and closed her eyes contemplatively.

"Come on now, girl, it's cool. It'll be like one psychic-type to another. We wanna help you out but we can't unless we know." Shen insisted.

Sakura still remained silent for a moment, still faced away.

"My trainer… he rescued me from being captured by hunters well over a month ago. Since that time, he has done what he could to make me feel welcome in his life. The trouble is that I may still be sought after by the very people he had rescued me from. If that is the case then he would also be in danger with me at his side and so…" Sakura softly said, pausing that statement.

"So by running off, you would save him the risk of being attacked by the people looking for you." Shen presumed.

"Precisely." Sakura validated.

"Well… you might be doing this for the right reasons, but do you really think _this_ is the answer to your problem?" Shen asked.

"I see no greater way to ensure him and his companions' safety. He would most likely not have allowed me to leave out of fear that something may happen to me." Sakura said.

"Okay, but don't you think his feelings are justified? You're talking about leaving his side on your own with no one else to have your back, not to mention you don't look like you're in the best shape to fight…" Shen said while motioning to Sakura's arm cast, which she then looked at herself.

"To top it off he would never know what would happen to you. If your trainer cares enough about you to knowingly stick his neck out in whatever it is that you're going through then it's obvious that you suddenly disappearing is something he may never be able to live down." Shen said.

Sakura looked down sorrowfully as the idea of the toll that came when her loved ones were taken was now imparted onto her trainer came crashing on her.

"I can tell from your pained expression that you've been in that situation before, a lot of us have. It's messed up isn't it? So why should your friend feel the same way, by your actions no less?" Shen asked.

"Oh my…" Sakura said in regret, sitting down on a stump and burying her face in her hand.

"I know it's not easy worrying for your trainer, but it's not like he would never be in danger again even if you did go through with this. I worry for my trainer's safety a lot too but that's why I stay close to him, because his other pokémon and I can protect him better than anyone else could… and sometimes, it's worth the risk." Shen explained.

"I have made a terrible mistake." Sakura said, still holding her head.

She stood up.

"I must return to him." Sakura said, clenching her left fist determinately.

"We're on our way to Santalune City now. You should come with us so we can find your way back to your trainer safely." Shen said.

"You would do that for me?" Sakura asked.

"Why not?" Shen answered.

He looked back to his trainer.

"So, what is it?" the trainer asked Shen.

"This kirlia needs to find her trainer in Santalune. Can we lend her a hand?" Shen asked his trainer telepathically.

"Of course we can, that should be easy enough." the young boy replied.

"To think we were going to attack you and try to capture you. Sorry about that. We'll get you back to your trainer. Just follow us." the trainer said to Sakura, who nodded.

Shen and the trainer turned and walked towards Santalune city and Sakura joined them.

* * *

(Santalune City)

Sakura and her new acquaintances walked the roads of Santalune forest and through Route 3 all the way back to Santalune City without any trouble or distractions, though Sakura began feeling a heavy weight within her chest as if she was worried for someone who was just lost. She believed it was because she was recently attacked and alarmed at first, but even now that she felt safe, it still remained. She did not understand, but kept it to herself and proceeded along with them regardless. It was almost noon when they arrived at the city and they walked passed the stone walls that lined the perimeter of the city and made their way to the pokécenter.

"Sakura!" Boomer's voice called from a distance.

Sakura looked over to him flying towards her.

"Boomer!" Sakura shouted as she ran to him with Shen and his trainer close behind.

They all met up.

"Boomer, it is good to see you!" Sakura said in a joyful tone.

"Are you freaking nuts?! Do you have any idea what you put us through? We've spent all morning searching every inch of this 'stinkin city for you." Boomer said in frustration.

"I…" Sakura said.

"Hey!" Alexa shouted from a distance, catching everyone's attention. she ran towards them and met up with them all and looked down at Sakura.

"Sakura, Damien has been worried sick about you. Are you alright?" Alexa asked with concern.

Sakura looked away from Alexa, feeling convicted.

"She a friend?" Shen asked Sakura.

"Yes." Sakura answered.

"You sure?" Shen asked skeptically.

"She is a friend of my trainer's. She will not bring me harm." Sakura explained.

Alexa knelt down to match Sakura's height and Sakura still avoided eye contact with her.

"Look, I know… I said some things yesterday that might have made you feel like you were a liability to Damien's safety. I only said that out of concern for him." Alexa said carefully to Sakura.

Sakura was still looking the other way.

"Now I know that was wrong of me to do and I hurt your feelings saying that and… I'm sorry. I never wanted this to happen. I only want him to stay out of trouble just as much as you would. I also want us to be on good terms so we can figure this whole thing out together. I thought I should at least give you something since we're here. "Alexa said.

Sakura went from feeling guilty to feeling curious as to what Alexa had for her, partially looking her way.

Alexa pulled a long white object with a black cap out of her purse and showed it to Sakura.

"May I see your arm for a sec?" Alexa asked.

Sakura recognized the object as a marker, but wondered what that had to do with her arm. She sensed that whatever Alexa wanted, it was out of kindness, so she gave Alexa her arm.

Alexa was writing on her cast for about a minute before she was done. Sakura pulled it back after so she could see what Alexa did to it. Upon her cast she saw what Alexa wrote.

 **Please get well soon, Sakura!**

 **\- Alexa**

Those words plus a few flowers surrounding them and a heart next to Alexa's name.

"Ple- ease… get… well… soon… _Sakura._ " Sakura thought to herself.

"It's not unusual for pokémon training to be hazardous to trainers, that's why they need all the help they can get from their pokémon on their journeys, and I know how much Damien will need yours." Alexa explained.

Sakura looked up at Alexa.

"I hope that we can be friends sometime soon. Would that be okay with you?" Alexa asked Sakura with a smile, gently placing a hand on her cast.

Sakura looked up at Alexa with a blank expression then gave her a small blushed smile and rested her left hand on Alexa's.

Alexa stood up to face Shen's trainer.

"I can't thank you enough for bringing my friend's kirlia back. It means so much." Alexa said with a smile.

"It's no problem at all, I couldn't just leave a lost pokémon alone out there with that arm." the trainer replied.

"What's your name, kid?" Alexa asked.

"The name's Jack." the trainer said, extending his hand to Alexa.

"Alexa. What brings you to Santalune?" Alexa asked as she shook his hand.

"I beat the gym leader here a little while ago after my second try and I was out in the woods looking for some new pokémon to add to my team." Jack said.

"Wow, did you have any luck?" Alexa asked.

"Not really, and I thought I was going to catch this pokémon too. Guess it was a good thing I found out she belongs to someone else when I did." Jack said, looking at Sakura.

"No kidding." Alexa replied.

"What about you? What are you doing here?" Jack asked.

"My friend is challenging the gym leader here and I came to watch. The gym leader just so happens to be my sister." Alexa answered.

"Oh. Oh wait, you're Alexa the reporter! Wow, it's so cool to meet you!" Jack said excitedly.

"Aw, stop." Alexa giggled, feeling flattered.

"I'd ask you if you wanted to battle but you probably have somewhere to be." Jack said.

"Yeah, I do. Plus I don't really use my pokémon for battle that often anymore anyways." Alexa said.

"That makes sense." Jack said.

"Well, I really should bring my friend his pokémon now. It was nice to meet you." Alexa said.

"Same here." Jack said happily.

Shen walked to Sakura.

"So… Sakura's the name, right? When you see your trainer again, just remember what I told you." Shen said to Sakura.

"I will, Shen. Thank you for your insights and your aid." Sakura said.

"It's like I said, one psychic-type to another." Jack said.

"Farewell. May our paths cross again in the future." Sakura said with a curtsey.

"Oh, I'm sure they will…" Shen said, just before turning away from Sakura and walking back to Jack.

"I wouldn't doubt it." he quietly said, looking over his shoulder.

"Bye!" Alexa shouted while waving to Jack as she, Sakura and Boomer went separate ways from him and Shen."

Alexa pulled out her phone, dialed it and put it up to her head.

"Hey, I found her… Yup! We'll see you back at the pokécenter… Bye." Alexa said to Damien over the phone.

Alexa hung up and they all had a peaceful silent walk through town back to the pokémon center to meet with Damien.

* * *

(Santalune Pokécenter)

Damien was in the lobby of the pokécenter, pacing back and forth anxiously, despite recently learning of Sakura's whereabouts as Rocket sat along the wall and watched him. Damien perked up with anticipation each time he heard someone come through the door, regardless of who it was. Then finally, it was Sakura, Alexa and Boomer who entered.

Sakura and Damien took a moment to face each other.

"Sakura… you're back." Damien happily said as he walked towards them, Rocket following behind.

" _Kirlia_!" Sakura cried out as she ran and leapt up into Damien's arms.

Damien caught Sakura and met her with a hug, feeling her body shaking with guilt.

"I am so sorry for all of this. I only wanted you to be safe, but departing from you against your wish as I did would not have solved our problems and I was wrong to try." Sakura said, tearing up slightly.

"It's alright, Sakura. I'm just happy that you came back and you're alright. Just promise not to do anything like that again." Damien forgivingly said.

"I do promise. Thank you, Damien." Sakura said.

She felt the awful, heavy feeling that she felt since earlier leave her now that they were together again safely.

Damien placed Sakura on the floor next to Rocket and faced Alexa.

"You're the best, Alexa. It means a lot that you would put your trip back to Lumiose on hold to help me find Sakura." Damien said.

"No need to worry about it, it was the very least I could do after everything that happened." Alexa said.

"So I guess now that everything is as it should be, you ought to be going. I imagine you wouldn't want to keep Viola waiting any longer than we already have." Damien presumed.

"Don't kick me out just yet, I want to give you something before I go." Alexa said as she unclipped her case and opened it.

"Huh? Oh no, where did I put it?!" Alexa shouted in a panic.

"Put what? What's the matter?" Damien asked.

"Oh wait…" Alexa said calmly before she dug through her purse.

Alexa pulled out a pokéball from her case and held it to Damien.

"I'm lending you a pokémon to help you with your training. It's my azumarill." Alexa said.

"Ugh, great… that guy…" Boomer groaned.

"Azumarill knows ice beam, rollout, defense curl and bubble beam. I thought his moves would be similar to the moves that Viola's pokémon uses." Alexa explained.

"Wow… yeah, that pokémon would be pretty helpful to me. Thank you, Alexa." Damien said to Alexa before he took the pokéball from her.

"But remember, Azumarill isn't yours to keep like Boomer is. You only have until your rematch with Viola then he's coming back with me." Alexa said.

"Aw… alright, it's a deal." Damien said with a laugh.

"Great, I'll see you next week. Viola says bye, too." Alexa said.

"Bye, Sakura. I hope your arm feels better soon." Alexa said, waving to Sakura.

Sakura smiled and waved back and Alexa walked out the door.

"Were you hurt at all while you were gone?" Damien asked Sakura.

"No, only frightened." Sakura answered.

A growling sound loud enough to fill the lobby was heard by everyone in the room. Everybody responded by looking for where it came from, except for Sakura, who quickly clutched her arms over her stomach and blushed out of embarrassment. Damien saw this and stifled a laugh.

"Come on, you should come back to the operating room so you can clean yourself up. We can talk about all of this over some lunch later." Damien said as he walked to the front door and stood, waving Sakura to come over.

Sakura followed him in.

* * *

Damien left Sakura in the care of the nurses and ordered takeout from a nearby restaurant. He and the rest of his pokémon left to pick up their lunch and take it back to the pokécenter for them to enjoy out in the courtyard. They stayed outside the pokécenter after they were finished and sat on a bench facing the street.

"That hit the spot. Now that we had something to eat, let's meet our new friend here." Damien said, tossing Azumarill's pokéball into the air.

The ball opened and the blue spotted rabbit pokémon came out from the beam of light onto the grass in front of the group, twitching his ears and looking around.

"Hey there, my name is Damien." Damien said to Azumarill.

Rocket hopped off the bench and walked straight up to him, wasting no time to introduce himself.

"Hey! I'm Rocket!" Rocket shouted eagerly.

"Hello, Rocket, pleased to meet you." Azumarill said with a bow.

Sakura got down from the bench to greet him as well.

"Greetings, you make call me Sakura. It is a pleasure to meet a new face." Sakura said, doing a curtsey.

"Likewise." Azumarill replied.

"Boomer, aren't you gonna say hi?" Damien asked Boomer.

"Sup?" Boomer mumbled as he faced away with his wings crossed.

"Um… good to see you're still your old self, pal." Azumarill replied, scratching the back of his head.

Boomer got off the bench and flew to a nearby tree and hung by one of its branches.

"Alexa told you why you're here with me, right?" Damien asked Azumarill.

"Yes, my trainer lent me to help you train for your rematch against her sister." Azumarill replied with a nod.

"She also told me that you are able to understand my words whenever she translates them to you." Azumarill explained whilst gesturing to Sakura.

"You've been well informed." Damien said.

"So, shall we begin our training now?" Azumarill asked.

"Um… sure, if that's okay with you." Damien replied.

Azumarill turned towards the center of the courtyard and inhaled. He exhaled and fired an ice beam on the ground, covering the grassy courtyard with a thin sheet of ice.

"Oh boy!" Rocket shouted ecstatically before he ran toward the ice.

He ran and slid on the ice, using his little claws for traction whenever he made a turn. Rocket seemed to have no problem moving on the ice and he was enjoying it as the others watched him.

"Rocket, how did you learn to do that?" Damien asked Rocket.

"Mommy shoots at things with ice, remember?" Rocket answered.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense." Damien said to himself.

"Do you want to try to take some attacks?" Damien asked Rocket.

"Bring it on!" Rocket shouted.

"Okay. Azumarill, use bubble beam on him." Damien said.

Azumarill fired a fast stream of condensed bubbles at rocket, each one individually bursting upon impact on his head and they pushed him back on the ice.

"Ow." Rocket groaned.

"Are you okay, Rocket?" Damien asked.

"Yeah, that was nothing!" Rocket shouted.

"Alright, keep at it." Damien told Azumarill.

Azumarill fired another bubble beam at Rocket, only this time Rocket reacted and used his claws to push himself and dodge it. Azumarill fired more bubble beams and Rocket was swerving around them and moving towards Azumarill until he was close and he leapt into the air and pounced on him.

"Ha hah, Rocket got you." Rocket said, standing on top of Azumarill and wagging his tail.

"You got lucky, don't expect me to go so easy on you next time." Azumarill told Rocket with a smile.

"Impressive work out there, Rocket. That was great, little dude." Damien called out.

Sakura let out a sigh. Damien looked over to her in response.

"What's troubling you now, Sakura?" Damien asked.

"I only feel somewhat troubled over my lack of usefulness in training now. I suppose I should know better than to exceed my limits too far, and this is further evidence of that." Sakura said while raising her right arm.

"Well… that was what I was trying to tell you during the battle. Part of being a trainer is teaching pokémon so they don't have to learn these things the hard way." Damien explained.

"Yes, I understand. That is your duty as my trainer and I should be obliged to recognize the value of your word, be it in regards to battling or otherwise." Sakura explained.

"I am also very happy and grateful that I have found my way back to you. I know I am in good hands." Sakura said with a wholehearted smile.

"I feel the same." Damien said, returning the expression.

"Also, if this injury is anything like my others, it will mend sooner than expected." Sakura enthusiastically added.

Damien gave her a thoughtful look.

"You know what? I think we should wait off the whole two weeks for your arm to heal before we battle again, just to be sure that injury won't cause any more trouble for us than it already has." Damien said.

"But that would mean that I would be unable to participate in your rematch next week." Sakura said.

"That's fine, Rocket and Boomer will handle it. You won't need to worry about a thing." Damien explained.

Sakura looked at him in thought and then nodded at him.

"So what shall we try next, sir?" Azumarill asked Damien, chiming in.

"Oh, um… let's see… Why don't you show me some more of your moves?" Damien asked.

"Very well." Azumarill said rubbing his hands together.

He jumped in the air and tucked his arms, his legs and tail into his body and rolled forward rapidly as he fell. After hitting the ground Azumarill rolled around the courtyard at a high speed. He then stopped in place and faced Rocket.

"Get ready, Rocket." Damien said to Rocket.

Rocket got into a firm fighting stance and waited for Azumarill to make a move.

"Go!" Damien shouted.

Azumarill rolled quickly in Rocket's direction. Rocket lost his nerve and scrambled to the side to avoid the attack and Azumarill zoomed passed him. Azumarill circled around to strike Rocket with another rollout.

"Rocket, use swift on him!" Damien shouted.

Rocket fired a stream of stars from his mouth at Azumarill that impacted him as he rolled. The attack did not slow him down and he knocked Rocket over, trying his best not to hurt him too greatly. Rocket stood back up afterwards.

"It doesn't work." Damien mumbled in disappointment.

Azumarill kept his rollout going around the courtyard to keep up his momentum. As he did, Damien remembered how an attack like Sakura's hyper voice was able to stop Whirlipede's rollout. Sure enough, Boomer could do the same with his own attacks, but Rocket?

Azumarill accidently hit a root of the tree that Boomer was in, hidden in the surrounding grass and he flew into the air. He uncurled himself as he flew and landed on his back with a thud in the grass.

"Ugh…" Azumarill groaned as he lied still.

"Are you alright?" Damien called out to Azumarill.

"Yeah, this darn tree route just tripped me up, that's all." Azumarill replied as he sat up and scratched his head.

"Hmph… that's what you get for always hogging the attention." Boomer said, taunting Azumarill.

Damien walked over to examine the root.

"Hmm…" Damien hummed inquisitively while looking at the root and to Rocket.

It occurred to him that this abrupt disturbance in the terrain is likely what ultimately disrupted Azumarill's rollout attack.

"Okay, I think we made some progress. Let's take a break." Damien said to his pokémon.

"Boomer, what was the name of that movie you wanted to see? The one with the car chase and the street fights." Damien asked, looking up at Boomer.

"You mean _Bounty: One for All_?" Boomer asked intriguingly.

"Yeah, how's about we rent it from somewhere and watch it? Sound like a plan?" Damien asked.

"Damn straight it does!" Boomer shouted excitedly as he jumped from the branch and flew in place.

"Ha hah! Alright, let's see where we can rent ourselves a copy." Damien said.

* * *

(Viola's House)

Alexa and Viola had come back home for lunch and cleaned up afterwards and were now preparing to leave. Alexa was looking around the house for her camera case and viola looked at the picture she took of Sakura during the battle with Damien on her camera.

"Oh, where did I put that darn thing?" Alexa asked herself.

"So Damien's pokémon came back here on her own?" Viola asked Alexa.

"Yeah, lucky for all of us, otherwise I might have not found her at all. Everything is as it should be so we shouldn't need to worry anymore." Alexa answered.

"Yeah… right. Well, in any case, I'm glad it all worked out." Viola replied.

"Tell me, you didn't go easy on him during the match yesterday, did you?" Alexa asked.

"No, no I didn't. In fact, I tried much harder for him than I usually do… and that's what terrifies me." Viola said.

"You should've seen your face." Alexa said, laughing.

"Shut up." Viola muttered.

"That kirlia of his was unlike anything I had to go up against before. That was pure devotion I saw in her eyes. You said she was unstable during the battle too?" Viola asked.

"Yeah, and although that drove Sakura to withstand more abuse, it also caused her attacks to become less controllable. It's also dangerous because it can damage their bodies and well-beings, some cases more severe than others. Luckily for them, that wasn't one of those cases." Alexa explained.

"Wow." Viola replied.

"Found it! Honestly, how do I keep misplacing my stuff like this?" Alexa asked as she pulled her camera case out from behind Viola's couch.

"By the sound of things, Damien won't be using his kirlia during the rematch next week." Viola explained.

"I guess that's true, but I have a feeling you're still gonna need to keep your guard up." Alexa said.

"I will." Viola replied.

"Are you ready to go now?" Viola asked.

"Yeah, let's get going. I can't wait to go to the outlet mall, it'll be so much fun!" Alexa answered excitedly.

Alexa and Viola both walked out the door to leave for Lumiose City.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

 **I'll just end this chapter here, whatevs. So it looks like Damien is blowing off training once again… or is he? ;)**

 **It was like I said, I don't think this chapter rewrite was perfect. The biggest reasoning for that is because I can kind of see this as a double slap to the face of someone who was expecting more action out of this chapter. I mean hell, the last chapter ended on a cliffhanger where Sakura was about to be attacked by a wild pinsir and then was saved by a trainer, _but wait_ … the trainer wanted to take her for himself… nope, he ends up taking her back to Damien instead. If someone does feel that way after reading this then I apologize, this just isn't the right moment for any really urgent actiony type scenes and I _really_ wanted to rid this chapter of its previous atrocities towards my character development so** **…** **yup, my bad. I still like this chapter now though.**

 **I do want to say that Shen will play a role later on, so that's the reason for them here.**

 **Okay up next is the Damien vs Viola take two chapter (Oh goody!). Again, if you have some thoughts then please, let me have them whether it's by review or PM, or even message me on Deviantart like some have done before.**

 **Well, I'm going out for some coffee. Laters.**

 **Unrelated Note: "Weird Al" Yankovic attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1981… duh.**


	18. Chapter 18 - Fresh Start

**To think I came so close to complaining about my lack of frequent reviews from my readers. I've gotten a few reviews on the story since I last updated it, one of which included some constructive criticism, which by the way was absolutely appreciated as well as any other such reviews that I may receive in the future. Just to let you all know that I was and will be totally cool with it.**

 **That's the other thing, too. Like I've been asking, I would REALLY appreciate it if I could have your reviews, whether it's about the things you like about the story, don't like about the story, your favorite moments. That is how I ultimately know that people are actually reading this, so PLEASE give me some feedback so I don't have to get all sappy n' stuff. I've been in your shoes in that kind of situation before and whether you know it or not, you don't want it.**

 **Okay, despite some of the things I said in the past about battle scenes, this gym battle was pretty exciting for me to make, so by that logic, it is entirely likely that you will like it too, of course that would just be an assumption though. That's all I feel I should say on the matter.**

 **Alright, let's win it this time for the sake of going somewhere else again. Santalune is a nice place and all but I'm getting a little sick of it and I wanna get the hell out of there, so don't screw things up this time, Alexa.**

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

 **Fresh Start**

 **(Three Days Later)**

(Santalune Gym)

Damien and his pokémon have come back to the Santalune gym for their rematch against Viola and her pokémon after a weekend of prep time. They found Viola and Alexa waiting outside the front door and walked up to them.

"So, Damien, my guess is you've been training pretty hard for this rematch since last week. Is that right?" Viola asked Damien.

"You know I have, Viola." Damien said with a smile.

"Great, I look forward to seeing what you have in store for me this time around, so don't disappoint me." Viola said enthusiastically.

"I'll be with you again shortly, I gotta go tell the ref that everyone is here." Viola said as she walked through the door, leaving Alexa outside with Damien and Sakura.

Damien walked in front of Alexa. She had a slight look of sadness in her eyes as if she was recently distraught over something and Damien caught sight of this.

"Is there something wrong, Alexa?" Damien asked.

Alexa looked at Damien and recognized the impression she was putting on him.

"No, everything's alright." Alexa said with a faint smile.

"So… are you ready to fulfill your end of the deal, Damien?" Alexa asked Damien.

"Yup." Damien said, looking through his jacket.

He pulled out Azumarill's pokéball and handed it to Alexa.

"Thanks." Alexa said, putting the pokéball in her case.

"So was he everything you needed?" Alexa asked eagerly.

"Azumarill worked wonders for me. I have a really good feeling that I have it this time." Damien said.

"Remember not to get too cocky, Damien." Alexa advised Damien.

"Right. Thanks for all of your help, Alexa." Damien said.

"Of course, I really hope to see you win this time." Alexa said with a confident smile.

They all walked in through the door and to the battlefield.

* * *

Viola and Damien got in their respective places on the battlefield and stood waiting for the referee to come out and start the battle. Sakura was sitting on top of the retention wall to Damien's right to have a good view of the battle as she watched.

Alexa came in from the rear entrance of the gym with a small box under her left arm. She walked along the outside of the retention wall over to where Sakura was and stood within arm's reach of her. Sakura looked over at Alexa and the box she was carrying.

"Hey there…" Alexa said to Sakura with a smile.

Sakura looked back up to Alexa and returned the smile.

"I hope you had a nice weekend. I got a little something for you." Alexa said.

" _Kir?_ " Sakura mewled aloud in an interested tone.

"Here, have a look." Alexa said while handing Sakura the box.

Sakura took the box and placed it on her lap and lifted the lid off with her left hand.

" _Ahh…_ " Sakura hummed as she looked at what the box contained.

"The people who were after you were looking for a _pink_ kirlia, so over the weekend I went shopping at a store for pokéfanatics while I was at the mall and bought these just for you so you can wear these whenever you're out in public. That way you won't need to worry about your appearance putting Damien in danger." Alexa explained.

Sakura tilted her head in thought as she continued to look in the box with an uncertain look on her face.

"You don't like it, do you?" Alexa asked in disappointment.

Sakura looked up at her.

"I'm sorry, I just thought that this would be the answer to our problem. I didn't think it would bother you so much to hide your loo-" Alexa explained before she was interrupted by a sudden hug from Sakura.

"I love it." Sakura said in her native tongue as she held Alexa, closing her eyes and smiling.

Alexa was caught off guard from this action and did not know how to respond at first, then she also smiled and hugged Sakura back.

* * *

The referee walked in from the back door and walked to the middle of the field.

"Sorry I'm late. Ehem…" The referee said with a throat clearing.

"The gym battle rematch between Damien the challenger and Viola the Santalune gym leader will now begin! Each side will have the use of two pokémon and the battle will be over when either trainer's pokémon are unable to continue! Only the challenger may substitute pokémon!" the referee announced.

"My lens is still focused on victory and nothing will ruin this shot. Go, Surskit!" Viola shouted, throwing Surskit's pokéball in the air and sending her out.

Surskit skated side to side and waited to see what pokémon Damien was going send out.

"Hmm… alright, let's get this show on the road. Come on out, Rocket!" Damien shouted, throwing Rocket's pokéball in the air and sending him out.

Rocket barked excitedly as he fell to the ground. He landed on his feet and did a bow as if he was ready to pounce, eager for battle.

"Rocket, huh? I would've thought you were gonna have Boomer try and settle the score here." Viola said.

"Guess that'll just have to wait." Damien replied.

"Whatever you say, Damien. Alright, let's start this off. Surskit, use agility!" Viola shouted.

Surskit was skating faster and skated around her side of the battlefield.

"Alright Rocket, use swift!" Damien shouted.

Rocket fired a stream of glowing stars from his mouth that quickly made their way in Surskit's direction. Surskit was skating away from the swift stars but could not outmaneuver them as they were approaching her.

"Surskit, use signal beam on the swift!" Viola shouted.

Surskit turned around and fired the pink, sparkly ray at the swift stars, causing them to evaporate.

"No effect. Alright, Rocket, use bite on Surskit!" Damien shouted.

Rocket ran from where he was standing and dashed towards Surskit as his fangs glowed.

"Surskit, use ice beam on the ground!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired her light blue ray in the air that burst into smaller ice beams and were falling to the ground.

"Rocket, use swift on the ice beams!" Damien shouted.

Rocket stopped in place and fired his swift at each individual ice beam ray and neutralized them all.

"Okay… Surskit, use agility!" Viola shouted.

Surskit took off in a blue blur and skated to the other side of the battlefield and away from rocket.

"Rocket, use quick attack and go after Surskit!" Damien shouted.

Rocket took off in a brown blur and chased after Surskit, keeping up closely behind.

"Surskit, use sticky web on him!" Viola shouted.

Surskit got closer to Rocket and fired web balls at him. Rocket ducked under one, jumped over another but got one stuck on his tail.

"Aw, shoot!" Rocket yelled, trying to pull himself free.

"Surskit, use signal beam!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired a signal beam at Rocket and it splashed against him, causing him to squint and grind his teeth.

"It's okay, Rocket! Use dig and get yourself out of there!" Damien shouted.

Rocket burrowed his way into the ground beneath him and got himself out of the sticky web and the signal beam's path.

"Alright, Surskit. Let's try using ice beam on the ground again!" Viola shouted.

Surskit fired ice beam into the air and had it burst into the smaller ice beams. Without Rocket on the surface to interrupt the attack, the ice beams made their way to the ground and began freezing it over.

"Rocket, come back up!" Damien shouted.

Rocket did not come up though as the ground continued to freeze.

"Rocket, what are you doing?! You need to come up now!" Damien shouted.

The battlefield was nearly frozen over and Rocket bursted from the remaining unfrozen ground and shook off.

"Okay, good. Now, use bite, Rocket!" Damien shouted.

Rocket ran towards Surskit with glowing fangs and then lost his balance and toppled over.

"What?!" Damien shouted.

"Wait… could it be?" Damien asked himself.

"Yeah, now use signal beam again!" Viola shouted as Rocket was trying to get himself up.

Surskit fired a signal beam at Rocket, causing a mist explosion from where it hit the ice and destroyed it. The room stood still and waited for the mist to clear. The mist cleared and rocket was sitting down, holding a persim berry in his mouth and he started chewing it.

"Oh." Viola said, amused by Damien's preparation.

Rocket finished eating the berry and stood up steadily on the ground.

"You good now, little dude?" Damien asked Rocket.

Rocket nodded his head in response.

"Okay then, use quick attack on Surskit!" Damien shouted.

Rocket took off onto the ice and dashed towards Surskit.

"Surskit, use agility and get out of the way!" Viola shouted.

Surskit dashed on the ice at an angle from Rocket in an attempt to get out of his range.

"Keep at it, Rocket!" Damien shouted.

"Not so fast!" Rocket shouted as he used his claws to grip the ice and make a sharp turn towards Surskit and dashed towards her again.

"What? Surskit, use ice beam now!" Viola shouted in surprise.

Surskit's antenna glowed blue but just as she used ice beam Rocket clashed with her, causing an icy explosion from the ice beam. Rocket slid away and slowed down until he came to a stop. He then found himself trying harder to stand from the damage that ice beam caused. Surskit on the other hand was only breathing a little heavily.

"Well, Damien, those were some pretty neat tricks you had up your sleeve but it looks like it just wasn't enough." Viola told Damien.

"No, you're right, it wasn't. I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this but…" Damien said.

"But…?" Viola asked curiously.

"Hey, Rocket!" Damien shouted, forming a ring around his mouth with his hands.

Rocket jerked his head to face Damien.

"Boomer told me Surskit is gonna try to steal your pancakes!" Damien shouted at Rocket.

"Pancakes?" Viola asked, giving a confused look.

"You what?" Rocket asked Surskit with a menacing tone, turning his head slowly to glare at her.

Surskit had a startled look. Rocket took a step forward with attitude.

"Nobody touches Rocket's pancakes… you big _meanie!_ " Rocket shouted furiously, assuming battle ready position and awaiting Damien's command.

"Meanie? How old are you?!" Surskit asked, still feeling surprised.

"Alright, Rocket, use swift!" Damien shouted.

"For the pancakes!" Rocket shouted just before he fired a stream of stars at surskit.

"Surskit, use signal beam on the swift!" Viola shouted.

Surskit began charging for a signal beam as her antenna glowed pink.

"Now, Rocket, use quick attack followed by bite, just like we practiced!" Damien shouted.

Rocket immediately took off in a blur and ran in zig zags, running past his own swift faster than Surskit could react and leaped over her and bit her antenna before she could use signal beam, lifting her up off the ice and flinging her back down.

"Surskit!" Viola shouted as Surskit was unable to move.

"Rocket, look out!" Damien shouted.

Rocket jumped out of the way and the swift stars impacted Surskit individually and caused an explosion. Rocket faced away, not looking back.

The dust cleared and Surskit was weakly standing.

"Surskit use ice beam!" Viola shouted.

Surskit quickly charged up and fired ice beam.

"Jump!" Damien shouted.

Rocket leaped into the air over the ice beam and over Surskit.

"Now, quick attack!" Damien shouted.

Rocket came straight down towards Surskit in a blur and landed before he was hit by the ice beam, causing another icy explosion.

"No! Surskit!" Viola shouted.

"Rocket!" Damien shouted.

The mist eventually cleared and Rocket was standing while Surskit was defeated. Rocket then let out an innocent, happy laugh in triumph.

"Surskit is unable to battle! Eevee wins!" the referee announced.

* * *

"Great job, Surskit. Take a good rest." Viola said as she returned Surskit to her pokéball.

"Well, I've gotta hand it to you, Damien, that was really something. In all honesty, this is why I was hoping you would use your eevee during our first battle." Viola said.

"Why's that?" Damien asked.

"Eevee is a species of pokémon known to be flexible in terms of strength, each one being different from the others depending on how they or their trainers decide to go about it. That's what makes them very difficult to predict as opponents and they can provide a real challenge." Viola explained.

"Awesome work, Rocket." Damien said, earning a smile and a bark from Rocket.

"But… that can only get you so far." Viola said, pulling out Whirlipede's pokéball.

"Come out, Whirlipede!" Viola shouted as she threw Whirlipede's pokéball in the air.

The pokéball opened and Whirlipede came out from it and made a muffled growl as he was falling to the ground. Whirlipede landed with a thud and spun in place and kicked up dirt, showing his readiness for a fight just like last time.

"Woah." Rocket said, feeling a little daunted.

"Easy, Rocket, we can do this." Damien said to reassure Rocket.

"Ready when you are, Damien. give it your best shot." Viola said.

"If you insist." Damien said to Viola.

"Rocket, use quick attack on Whirlipede!" Damien shouted.

Rocket bolted from where he was standing in a brown blur, rushing toward the whirlipede.

"Whirlipede, use pin missile!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede began spinning his body in place as the spikes on his body were glowing white. Whirlipede then shot many large glowing white cone-shaped projectiles with green scattering trails behind them out of his spikes towards Rocket as he was quickly approaching.

"Now, off the wall!" Damien shouted.

Rocket stopped in place and leapt toward the wall, jumping against it, dodging the pin missile barrage and bounced towards Whirlipede's side.

"Stop and use protect!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede stopped his attack and relaxed, forming a teal barrier around him. Rocket came into contact with the barrier and bounced off on his legs, doing a backflip as he fell back and landed on his feet.

"Dang it." Damien muttered.

"Alright. Whirlipede, let's show them one of our favorite picture perfect techniques now. Use gyro ball!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede fell on his side and started spinning quickly in place as a top would.

"What is she doing?" Damien thought to himself.

"Now use poison tail!" Viola shouted.

As Whirlipede was spinning in place, his feelers started glowing purple and extending nearly ten times their usual length so when he spun his feelers moved as rotors on a helicopter would. Whirlipede then moved his way towards Rocket.

"Rocket, get away from there!" Damien shouted.

Rocket ran from Whirlipede to avoid getting whipped. Rocket managed to slip away from poison tail's range but Whirlipede kept coming for him.

"Rocket, use dig!" Damien shouted.

At the moment Rocket was going to be hit by poison tail, he tunneled his way into the ground.

"Keep that momentum going, Whirlipede." Viola said.

Whirlipede kept spinning where he was while Rocket was still underneath him somewhere. This pressed on for a short while.

"Now, Rocket!" Damien shouted.

"You too, Whirlipede!" Viola shouted afterwards.

As rocket was making his way back to the surface, Whirlipede struck the ground with two of his feelers and sprang himself off the ground and high into the air. Rocket then popped out from the ground and into the air in an effort to attack Whirlipede from beneath but he was too far out of his reach. This made Rocket vulnerable to attack.

"Aw jeez…" Damien muttered.

"Now, use poison tail on him, Whirlipede!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede brought his feelers down and swiftly whipped Rocket on the side and threw him across the battlefield, making him skid across it as if he was a pebble on a watery surface.

"Rocket!" Damien and Sakura shouted in unison.

Rocket rose slowly to his feet and then started to cringe. Purple bubbles and electricity started to surge around Rocket's body and he let out a shout in pain.

"Aw shoot, that's poisoning!" Damien thought to himself.

"Rocket, use refresh!" Damien shouted.

Rocket took a deep breath and relaxed himself and radiated a green glow from his body. He was then cured of poisoning but Damien's hope was in vain. Rocket was still strained afterwards as he could barely stand up.

"Whirlipede, use steam ro-!" Viola was interrupted.

"Wait!" Damien interrupted.

"What?" Viola asked somewhat impatiently.

Damien took a look at Sakura on the retention wall and then to Rocket, who was still having a tough time staying on his feet.

"I'm calling Rocket back. He can't take much more." Damien explained.

"You do know what that means, right?" Viola asked.

"I do." Damien answered with a nod.

"Rocket, you did an amazing job out there. It's time for you to come back now." Damien said before he took out Rocket's pokéball and returned him to it.

"Eevee has been called back, which means Whirlipede is the winner!" The referee shouted.

* * *

"I think that was a very responsible move, Damien. No doubt you have learned from our last battle." Viola said.

"You can say that again." Damien replied.

"Like I said before, your eevee is a very talented pokémon and a difficult opponent to read, yet not impossible. Even eevees can be only so unpredictable, and once they find themselves up against an opponent that can unsuspectingly outmaneuver them, they've met their match." Viola explained.

"Yeah, they didn't make you a gym leader for nothing. You have some pretty hard to read strategies yourself." Damien said.

"Tell me something I don't know, Damien." Viola joked playfully.

"So it looks to me like you have one more pokémon to use in this battle. Who's it gonna be?" Viola asked Damien.

"Well… under the circumstances, I'd have to go with the obvious choice." Damien said, pulling out Boomer's pokéball.

Damien threw the pokéball into the air and released Boomer, who hovered in place, ready to begin.

"You got this, Damien…" Alexa said quietly to herself.

"Alright, looks like we have our final matchup. Your noibat against my whirlipede. I hope for your sake you have something interesting in mind." Viola said to Damien.

"That whirlipede has the speed boost ability, so it becomes faster over time. You ready for this Boomer?" Damien asked Boomer.

"Ready, bud." Boomer chirped and nodded in response.

"Now, Whirlipede, use rollout!"

Whirlipede spun and quickly rolled towards Boomer.

"Okay, use your agility!" Damien shouted.

Boomer flew straight up into the air quickly to avoid Whirlipede's rollout.

"Use poison tail!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede extended his feelers as he was using rollout to spring off the ground and fly towards Boomer.

"Get under there and use air cutter!" Damien shouted.

Boomer flew just beneath Whirlipede's trajectory and held his wings behind him, readying for the attack. Boomer crossed his wings and launched two crescent shaped light blue blasts of air that crossed in an X-shape at Whirlipede and burst against him as he flew passed. Whirlipede landed and cringed, showing signs of feeling air cutter's effect.

"I figured it was only a matter of time until you picked up on that flaw." Viola said to Damien.

"That probably would've completely killed my chances at winning altogether if I didn't." Damien said.

"Don't flatter yourself, Damien, you aren't out of the frying pan just yet." Viola said to Damien.

"Whirlipede, use gyro ball!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede fell on his side and spun in place.

"Get ready for this, Boomer." Damien said.

"Now, use poison tail!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede's feelers glowed purple and extended as he spun. He started moving in close, lashing his feelers at Boomer.

"Boomer, use agility and dodge it!" Damien shouted.

Boomer swiftly maneuvered his way around Whirlipede's attacks, dodging them.

"Spin faster, Whirlipede!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede stopped moving towards Boomer and focused on spinning faster on his side. Boomer was having more difficulty dodging the attack until he finally got struck by Whirlipede's poison tail attack.

"Boomer, fly behind Whirlipede and use air cutter!" Damien shouted.

Boomer flew above poison tail's range and behind Whirlipede as his wings glowed. He then launched his air cutter attack towards Whirlipede.

"Whirlipede, use protect." Viola shouted.

Whirlipede stopped spinning and made his teal barrier which absorbed the damage from air cutter as the attack burst against it. Boomer then cringed in the air.

"Boomer, what's wrong?!" Damien shouted.

Purple bubbles and electricity came from Boomer and Damien knew that sign all too well. Boomer then fell to the ground.

"Come on, really?" Damien asked himself in annoyance.

"Whirlipede, use rollout!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede used rollout and quickly rolled his way over to Boomer to mow him over.

"Boomer, use hurricane on him!" Damien shouted.

Boomer got up and flapped his wings furiously, causing a strong current of wind to blast against Whirlipede. Whirlipede kept pushing forward but was held back by the force of the hurricane until it overpowered him and sent him skywards and he fell on his side. Damien noticed the battlefield and how the ground started to crumble. He smiled at this.

"Boomer, catch!" Damien, said throwing a pecha berry Boomer's way.

Boomer turned around and saw the pink berry flying towards him. He jumped into the air and caught it in his mouth and ate it.

"Feeling better?" Damien asked Boomer.

Boomer nodded his head and jumped back into the air, hovering normally again.

"Use pin missile, Whirlipede!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede spun and launched his barrage of pin missiles at Boomer.

"Boomer, double team!" Damien shouted.

Boomer created nearly a dozen projections and scrambled them around as the pin missiles were approaching.

"Razor wind, now!" Damien shouted.

Boomer and his projections' wings glowed as they were flying towards Whirlipede's attack. Some of the pin missiles missed, some pierced through Boomer's projections, destroying them and a couple managed to hit the real Boomer and cause an explosion in the air. Boomer fell from the dust created by the explosion and landed on his side.

"Boomer!" Damien shouted.

Boomer was getting off the ground to his call.

"Whirlipede, use steam roller!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede rolled quickly towards Boomer as he was getting off his feet. Whirlipede hit Boomer but he vanished as Whirlipede came into contact. Whirlipede stopped in place to look back and see nothing there.

"What the heck?" Viola asked in confusion.

"Use razor wind again!" Damien shouted.

Down from the dust cloud came the real Boomer and he launched many glowing sickle shaped wind blasts from his wings, each one hitting Whirlipede as his astonishment got the better of him, rendering him vulnerable.

"Yes! You show 'em, Boomer!" Alexa shouted while pumping her fist in the air.

"Keep it up!" Damien shouted.

Boomer continued to fire his razor wind attack at Whirlipede.

"Whirlipede, use rollout and get away from that attack!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede spun and took off, getting himself away from the stream of razor winds and tore quickly around the battlefield.

"Now, get him, Whirlipede!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede changed course and rolled straight for Boomer. Whirlipede's increased speed was enough to catch Boomer off guard and knock him away.

"No!" Sakura shouted.

"Boomer! Are you okay?!" Damien shouted.

Boomer was getting off of the ground with difficulty.

"Tsk tsk tsk. It's too bad. Once again, you've come close enough to taste victory, yet not close enough to capture that perfect shot. Sorry Damien, looks like your badge will have to wait another day." Viola said to Damien.

"Boomer…" Damien said under his breath.

"Finish this, Whirlipede!" Viola shouted confidently.

Whirlipede turned around to run Boomer over again, rolling his way over at a rapid pace. The crumbling ground then finally caved in, causing a slump in the ground and Whirlipede to lose control of his rolling and hit a wall and fall over.

"Oh no! What's happening?!" Viola shouted in shock.

"There it is, Boomer! Now's your chance, use your air slash attack!" Damien shouted excitedly.

Boomer stretched his wings and launched buzz saw-shaped wind blasts towards Whirlipede that burst on impact and made him grunt loudly.

"Whirlipede, use protect!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede managed to for his teal protect barrier as he was under Boomer's attack.

"Boomer, use agility and get behind!" Damien shouted.

Boomer flew from his spot and directly behind Whirlipede in a near instant.

"Use hurricane!" Damien shouted.

Boomer landed on the ground, pulled his wings back and launched a current of wind up against Whirlipede hard enough to knock him and the protect barrier he was in into the air. The protect barrier then faded.

"Whirlipede, no!" Viola shouted helplessly.

"Yes! Air cutter, Boomer!" Damien shouted.

Boomer lept into the air and flew above Whirlipede as quickly he did before and spanned his wings.

"Whirlipede, use pin missile!" Viola shouted decisively.

Boomer launched the X-shaped air cutter attack downwards and Whirlipede spun in the air and fired pin missiles from his spikes simultaneously and the pin missiles flew up around the air cutter attack and to Boomer. The air cutter attack collided and pressed against Whirlipede and quickly send him careening to the ground and burst when they met the battlefield. The pin missiles intersected and hit Boomer at the same time and both attacks caused explosions on their respective targets.

Both trainers gasped out of anticipation as the dust from the explosions lingered. When the dust cleared enough both Whirlipede and Boomer could be seen on their respective sides of the battle field standing still on the ground staring each other down. Boomer then cringed and fell to his knee, catching himself on one of his wings.

"No…" Damien uttered in despair, feeling that all his efforts were once again in vain.

"Hmph…" Viola hummed with a smile.

Whirlipede then cringed himself and toppled onto his side.

"Huh? Whirlipede!" Viola shouted.

Whirlipede did not respond to the call as he was no longer able to keep up the fight.

"Whirlipede is unable to battle, Noibat wins, which means the winner of the match… is Damien!" The referee shouted while pointing to Damien.

* * *

"Yes! We did it, Boomer! Way to go!" Damien shouted excitedly, jumping and raising a fist in the air.

Sakura and Alexa also cheered Boomer and Damien on. Boomer smiled and slowly stood back up on his feet.

"Boomer, give me five, bud!" Damien shouted, running towards Boomer with his right hand up.

Boomer turned around and raised his right wing in the air only to fall over in exhaustion shortly after.

"Huh? Okay, I get. Take a good rest, you've more than earned it." Damien said, pulling Boomer's pokéball and activating it.

Boomer gave one more raspy chirp in triumph before he was put back into the ball.

"You have yourself a good rest yourself, Whirlipede. Thank you so much for your hard work." Viola said as she returned Whirlipede to his pokéball.

Viola, Alexa and Sakura walked over to where Damien was standing.

"Damien, you did it. That was fantastic!" Alexa said excitedly.

"Thanks, Alexa. I couldn't have done it without you or my pokémon." Damien said in fulfillment.

"So, Damien, tell me. Were you counting on the ground beneath my whirlipede to cave in?" Viola asked Damien.

"I knew Rocket wasn't going to last very long against your whirlipede. I thought I could at least have him help Boomer out by having him use dig to de-stabilize the ground while he was still in the fight. I didn't think you would count on me doing something like that." Damien explained.

Viola smiled.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Viola asked.

"From my pokémon, actually. I've learned that as a trainer it's important to teach my pokémon to battle, but sometimes I need to let them be themselves and let them be the ones to teach me just the same so we can learn to battle at our fullest." Damien explained.

"Is that so?" Viola asked.

"It is." Damien replied.

"Then to that, I say congratulations. In honor of your accomplishments here, I'm proud to present you with this…" Viola said while holding out her right fist.

She uncurled her fingers to reveal an object that appeared to be a bronze insect with one large green spot on each of its wings and antennae.

"the bug badge." Viola finished.

Damien took the badge from her hand and held it in his palm, looking at it in awe.

"Wow, my first badge…" Damien said to himself softly.

"Sweet, I just got the bug badge!" Damien shouted, raising the badge in the air.

"Yes!" Sakura shouted, standing next to Damien and mimicking his movement.

"Hey, why don't you guys get over here?" Viola asked.

"Huh?" Damien asked, giving her his attention.

"It's time for us to take a picture together." Viola said.

"Come on, Damien." Alexa told Damien as she shoved him over to Viola.

Damien called out Rocket and Boomer, who were both feeling just well enough to partake in the photo shot. As he did, Viola took her camera off her neck and set it on a stand and set it to timed automatic activation. Everyone got into their places as the timer on the camera was ticking. Viola and Alexa stood on each side of Damien, each holding a hand behind him. Sakura was sitting up on his shoulders, Rocket jumped in the air front of them and Boomer was hovering over them as Damien held up his badge proudly and the camera snapped.

"Wow. I don't think this picture could be any better." Viola said as she looked at the camera screen.

"Would you call it picture perfect?" Alexa asked.

"As picture perfect as it can get, Sis." Viola answered genuinely.

Viola turned her head over to Damien with a serious smile.

"Damien, you still have a long way to go and plenty more lessons and hardships to face if you plan to go all the way. Keep that in mind and make sure above all else that you keep the bond between you and your pokémon strong. I wish you the best of luck in your future." Viola told Damien.

"Thanks, Viola, you can count on it. I hope to see you again sometime soon." Damien replied.

"Likewise." Viola said with a confident nod.

"I'll be outside when you're ready to go, Alexa." Damien said to Alexa.

"Alright, just give me a few minutes." Alexa replied.

Damien walked for the door and his pokémon followed him from behind. Sakura then stopped and turned around and did a bow to Alexa.

"Thank you." Sakura's voice rang in Alexa's head.

Alexa screamed in surprise and fell to the ground on her butt, eliciting a loud laugh from Viola and a small giggle from Sakura. Alexa got off the ground and Sakura followed Damien merrily out the door.

"So, are you gonna tell him, Alexa?" Viola asked Alexa.

"I think so. I think he deserves to know. I need some time to myself to think before I do though." Alexa answered.

"Let me know how it pans out if and when you do." Viola said.

"I will. Thanks, Sis." Alexa replied with a small smile.

* * *

Alexa came out of the gym holding Sakura's gift box and met Damien and Sakura out in the parking lot after talking with Viola. They walked over to Alexa's motorcycle with a sidecar attached and Alexa put the box in the sidecar, hopped on and started it. She put on her helmet and and gave another to Damien, who put his on.

"Hop in." Alexa told Sakura as she patted the upholstery of the sidecar.

Sakura got into the sidecar and found a pair of aviator shades with silver lenses on the dashboard and put them on.

"Looking good there, girl. You sure can rock those shades." Alexa complemented Sakura.

Sakura gave a blushed smile and a giggle in return.

"It's okay, Damien, I won't bite." Alexa teased Damien, patting her hand against the passenger seat behind her.

Damien sat down in the seat behind Alexa and wrapped his arms around her.

"Ready to go home?" Alexa asked Damien.

"All set." Damien answered.

With that, Alexa put the motorcycle in gear, revved the engine and took off and they all left to go back to Lumiose city.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

 **Yeah, you knew Damien was going to win it this time. Why wouldn't he? If he didn't, that would just be ridiculous... I mean come on! Well, it's finally over. Stuff it, Viola!**

 **I imagine that at least someone would pick up on the pokémon** **in this chapter exceeding the four move standard limit like the anime would. That's because even though I said before that I try to stay true to the franchise, a four move limit is a game mechanic that seems really unrealistic and cumbersome. I mean look at Alakazam, its dex entries talk about having brain cells that multiply to no end and being able to remember literally everything, yet when it comes time to learn a fifth move, it's time to start forgetting. So even though I don't want my pokémon to know _every_ single move they can possibly learn, It shouldn't be too much of a stretch to break from that mold a little. Not to mention I wouldn't be the first author to do it, or the last. I think I might also include this into previous chapters if I happen to be making corrections on them, might as well.**

 **K then, til next time guys, and remember what I said at the top of the page.**

 **Unrelated Note: Ed, Edd n Eddy is the longest running Canadian-made animated series to date and is one of the longest running animated series in America.**


	19. Announcement

**Hello, my beautiful readers, let me just lead off by saying that this story _is_ continuing.**

 **So it's been like 3 months since I posted anything for this story and I would like to explain something and maybe let this serve as an insightful lesson to anyone who may want to make a story of their own or is doing so already. I already explained this to some of the people who personally contacted me in one way or another so if _you_ see this, you already know what it is.**

 **In the time I've been writing this goofy little pile of dialogue and fluff of a gardie/human love tale, I have learned that a story and the characters in it are not always dependent on each other. In my case, Sakura and Damien have existed in my imagination since before I even considered making this story and their personalities and traits have not been altered since. So when I noticed in pre-announcement chapter 17 that Sakura's character was taking form into something I did not desire for her, I realized I had a problem. That takes us back to chapter 18. I noticed this as I was making that chapter and it bothered me quite a bit, and I tried my best to just ignore it all together. That was why I said in the footnote of 18 (which has since been changed, btw) that I was going to put it aside and just focus on 19.** **I'm sorry, guys, but you know what? I exaggerate nothing when I say what I did with chapter 17 was just _so_ incredibly stupid that I just couldn't even hope to get over it in the end. I mean, this is supposed to be a story about characters with personalities that I hold dear to me and I feel like I screwed them over in the course of just _one freaking chapter_. That alone made me feel a bit depressed to a fault whenever I so much as thought about this story or the characters in general, hence the long ass hang time. Yeah, it bothered me _that_ much. That chapter wasn't criticized by anyone else in particular and like any other part of my story, it was well received, but dammit, I just _really_ hated it. I rushed chapter 17 because I was impatient and had little to no interest in this part of the story and because of that, I had to put the story to a screeching halt. It not only affected me, but the rest of you who frequently notify me something along the lines of "I love this story and can't wait for more" and for that, you have my sincerest apologies.**

 **I want to go off topic for just a sec and say it means a lot seeing stuff like that, you know? I love that people love this story and it still kind of surprises me to this day because when I originally posted The Porcelain Princess, I didn't know what to expect to get out of it. Like, I had little expectations for this and the support coming from all of you so far was a pleasant surprise and... yeah, it's pretty cool. I think it's because I didn't focus so much on what to do as I was focusing on what _not_ to do and how to avoided doing that. Somewhere along the way I just made the right calls and represented my main characters in some way that made people genuinely care for them and want to see them fall for each other. It has a chance of being one of _those_ stories and that's just absolutely gratifying. Thanks, you guys.**

 **Okay, nuff' of dat cheesy blather, now back to the topic at hand. The main thing I want to "announce" here is that I have changed parts of chapters 16 and 18 and changed chapter 17 drastically, so I urge you to take a look at them once again and hopefully understand why I did what I did. I said it there but I'll say it here as well. It's not perfect, however, it doesn't affect the character development in a detrimental way and that is what matters to me the most in this situation. Aaaaaaand, now with this and that cleared up and out of the way, I am at peace with the story again and I can finally continue with chapter 19! When it's finished, it will replace this announcement and I will probably mention most of the stuff I just said there or later on because it's important to me. So... okay, thank you for hearing (or reading rather) me out and as always I hope to hear your responses.**

 **Somewhat Related Note: Silentnight5674 on DevArt is drawing a picture of Sakura for me and I can't wait to see how it looks.**


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